I'm glad you're adding new info here, but I'm not sure why it has to be couched it divisive left-right rhetoric. I'm leftish and didn't know this. I am however, for certain kinds of consumption taxes.
One thing that I wish more people (including me) realize is - these big problems (taxation, immigration, protectionism etc) have multiple angles and many nuances to them, and it is just dumb to reduce them to a simple yes/no type binary question. All this to say, many people including those shouting at each other on television, probably don't know enough to argue one way or the other
The right has been floating flat and simplified tax schemes for decades, including consumption taxes. For example, Hermain Cain made a 9-9-9 Plan a central policy of his campaign.