A Fair Tax or sales tax would be less costly for the government to manage and certainly more equitable for the general public as ALL would contribute. A huge problem with the current system is the about 50% don't contribute anything to the federal government and thus, are happy for them to spend more because they have no commitment. The current system is also fraught with loopholes and exemptions for many --- and what's fair about that.
Yes, about 47% of US households pay no income taxes. See:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nearly-half-of-US-households-apf-1105567323.html?x=0I know one person who has paid no income taxes for the past several years (at least 5) yet has an income of over $500,000 per year from municipal bonds. By the way, he is hoping that the US defaults on the debt so the interest rates in new bonds he'll buy will go up several points.
