Regarding the national sales tax... [View All]

I posted this earlier in the general forum but most of the respondents seemed to miss the point of my question so I thought I might get some more relevant answers here. Here goes:

Why do Bush & other wealthy, right wingers believe it would be in their best interest to eliminate other taxes & replace them with a very steep (I've heard 20-30% suggested) sales tax? It seems to me that this would amount to cutting off their nose to spite their face. :P

It's obvious to me that most people would cut WAY down on their discretionary spending, reduce/reuse/recycle & make a lot of their remaining purchases through alternate channels to get around paying this tax. I know I would. IMO this reduced consumption (not the sales tax) would a good thing, but huge cutbacks in spending, or even moderate cutbacks, would cause a rapid decline in our consumption based economy and stock market. Why would these people who depend so much on sales & corporations & stock holdings favor such a plan? Are they really that short sighted? Or am I missing something? :shrug: Comments? Insight?