It has been a while since I read the Fair Tax proposal, but one of the things that intrigued me was the qualification requirement for the rebate paid to everyone to compensate for taxes paid on a base level of necessities. To get this rebate, a person must have a valid Social Security account number. This mean that the millions of illegals working as well as not working will not receive this rebate but will still have to pay the tax on all items purchesed. Also, they will no longer qualify for the Earned Income Tax Rebate for their children in and out of the country. It would be much harder for them to undercut the wage level for working citizens.

I realize this proposal has very little chance of becomming law because so many people benefit from the system as it is, even though they pretend to oppose it. The debate almost always boils down to why there should be no taxes rather than what type of tax is best. Like it or not, there is going to be some system of tax and it is not going to be considered equitable by those who have to pay it.

From my standpoint, the most attractive aspect of this proposal is that I would have the opportunity to control my level of tax by controlling my spending. I believe it was Senator Phil Gramm of Texas who remarked about our tendency to reward those things we oppose and punish those thing we support. He was talking about giving tax breaks for interest on debt and imposing taxes for interest on savings. In many ways this proposal changes that equation.