No, the legislation's choice of how to interest is not actually reasonable at all. It uses the Treasury bond rate, which is very low.

So, yes, you will be paying sales tax, not just on your house, but on a substantial part of your interest as well.

Yes, this makes the effective tax rate on houses (and cars, and washing machines, etc.) and anything else bought with borrowed money, higher than on goods not purchased on credit.

Yes, this hurts the poor.

Yes, this punishes people with sub-prime mortgages.

Yes, it means that every time the Fed meets, it finds itself not just setting monetary policy, but tax policy as well.

No, this is not just interest about the interest problem. I could go all day on about this plan. Employee discounts, tipping, taxing churches: every element of this plan is fraught with complexity. The fact that the FairTaxers shout down questions like this tells us a great deal more about them than it does about the proposed plan.

Yes, I'm done – for now.