Replies to post #32950 on Discover GOP Opprobrium

[teapeebubbles]

It hasn’t dominated the Republican primaries thus far, but the majority of the GOP presidential candidates support scrapping the existing U.S. tax structure, replacing it with a consumption tax (which proponents call the “fair tax”). As part of the plan, all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare and self-employment taxes would be swept away. In its place, we’d have a large national sales tax.

As Josh Marshall recently put it, “I guess that’s the kind of thing that sounds great if you a) don’t know anything about tax policy or b) don’t care about progressive taxation. Really rich people spend a low proportion of their money; poor and middle income people spend a lot. It’s a really stupid idea.”

That’s true, but it’s a really stupid idea with a sizable and organized backing, built around FairTax.org. So far, the really stupid idea has been endorsed by John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, Tom Tancredo, and Duncan Hunter. (Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney said they’d think about it, but appear reluctant to endorse the policy.)

And then there’s good ol’ Fred Thompson, who last week was asked, on camera, by a FairTax.org supporter, whether he’d support their tax policy. “Yeah, absolutely,” Thompson said.

Today, Thompson and his aides started trying to wiggle out of it.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., appears to have flip flopped on his pledge to sign federal legislation replacing all federal taxes with a 23 percent sales tax, according to an unedited FairTax.org video reviewed by ABC News.

“He has not taken this pledge,” Thompson spokesperson Linda Rozett told ABC News.

The Thompson camp’s denial appears to be contradicted, however, by an unedited FairTax.org video in which Thompson is asked, “Senator, if the House and Senate pass the ‘Fair Tax’ bill would you sign it?”

Thompson replies to the question by saying, “Yeah, absolutely.”

What do you want to bet that Thompson endorsed a radical overhaul of the federal tax structure without having any idea what it means?