Really Simple Tax

The author failed to answer an very important question about RST: is it revenue-neutral? By which I mean, does the government receive equal revenue under RST as under the complex system it replaces?

The "revenue neutral" question is very important -- it frequently makes or breaks tax reform measures, on the ground that anything but revenue neutrality hands a reform measure's opponents an easy basis for criticism.

Revenue neutrality, if true, would greatly increases the practical value of RST. By contrast, if taxpayers pay half the old rates, but the government receives half the revenue, the system seems less a reform than a gimmick.