just a few quick thoughts about the sales tax.
My question with the national sales tax is always, who doesn't think that a 15% tax is going to drive the underground economy further underground? cash under the table, barter etc. from a practical standpoint I think advocates of this system are a bit naive about this point. True, you are capturing 'income' from sources that may not pay tax in our current system, but I think that you would lose as much sales on the other side because of unreported sales that will happen.
You will still need a whole army of enforcement agents, similiar to the IRS now, maybe even more. If they think many business owners don't 'skim' from the top with regards to sales tax collected they would be naive.
And you don't think you will have as many, if not more, lobbyists trying to push for their product being exempt from this tax? there has to be some things that are exempt, no? I can only speak for NY, but the list for what is taxable and what isn't is fairly complicated for the average lay person to understand.