Laurence J. Kotlikoff (Boston University, Department of Economics) has published an op-ed, Why the Fair Tax Will Work: Bartlett’s Unfair Attack on the FairTax:

In his December 27, 2007 Tax Notes article, Bruce Bartlett purports to critique the FairTax, a proposal to replace almost all federal taxes with a retail sales tax plus a rebate. In fact, Barlett’s article has little to say about the FairTax and even less to say that’s accurate. Instead, most of his article misstates research on the FairTax, criticizes unnamed proponents of the FairTax, lambasts unattributed views of the FairTax, and engages in political punditry. This paper takes a close look at Bartlett’s “analysis,” exposing his repeated use of straw men for what it is rhetoric disguised as economics. …

Let me conclude by asserting that the FairTax will work. And let me reiterate that our nation is in grave fiscal danger. Going forward we desperately need an efficient, transparent, and equitable tax system that has the potential to raise, over time, significantly more revenue than would otherwise be the case and that contributes to limiting spending by making crystal clear who pays for what the government spends.