8.5% National Sales Tax?

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint (R) has proposed a combination of an 8.5% retail sales tax and some type of business profits tax to replace the federal income tax. DeMint said that in spite of the distraction of Hurricane Katrina, the time is right for Republicans to move forward with reform.

I am not sure whether the specific proposal made by DeMint is the best, but he definitely is correct about the Republicans moving forward on reform. The GOPers have somewhat stagnated over the summer and rediscovered that a static target is easier (for the Democrats) to hit than a moving target.