Is the "Fair Tax" fair?

Rep. John Linder of Georgia has proposed a thought provoking solution for the nation's tax problems. It is an amazingly simple plan. Basically, all taxes including federal income taxes, death taxes, capital gains taxes, and payroll taxes will be abolished and repalced with a national retail sales tax. The fair tax will be a 23 percent sales tax on all final goods and services. Intermediate goods will not be taxed. Social Security and Medicare will be paid from fair tax revenue. The tax burden will be placed on all individuals making purchases in the United States. Illegal aliens will be taxed, individuals being payed under the table will be taxed, and rich and poor alike will be taxed. Individuals would not have to worry about filing for tax returns, businesses would only be concerned with sales tax returns, and the 20,000 page book of IRS regulations would be done away with. This plan will automatically create incentives to personally save money because tax dollars will be derived from spending. Although the fair tax is recieving record breaking support it probably won't pass. However, its proposal may spawn other creative solutions to our tax problems. It may be to simple and basic to be perfect, but man, it sure sounds good!