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Reader responses varied by length and tone, but said the same thing. It was that my column suggesting a fair and progressive national sales tax to replace the cheater-friendly income tax amounted to a rousing endorsement of a bill before Congress favored by conservatives and libertarians and called the Fair Tax.

Alas, there are a couple of rules of thumb: One is that tax reform ideas tend to invite such nuance that agreements, much less rousing endorsements, are hard to come by. The other is that any suggestion that I'm allied with conservatives and libertarians is, while always possible among independent-thinkers, ripe for skepticism.

The Fair Tax isn't all bad. It would establish a national retail sales tax. Fairness and progressivity would be attended to by monthly "prebates," to use a horrid word. These direct payments would be based on family size and federal calculations on essential household expenses used in setting an official poverty level. A poor family would get a higher percentage break from this flat "prebate" than a wealthy one.

And that concludes the rousing endorsement portion of our column. Otherwise, let me enumerate objections.

First, the so-called Fair Tax calls for a flat 23 percent federal retail sales tax without exemptions, and knowledgeable people say that wouldn't be high enough to offset the income tax. It would widen the federal deficit. I'm talking about a new tax that would be high enough to amount to a general tax increase -- targeted to high-end spenders -- to reduce the deficit.

Second, the decent idea of "prebates" notwithstanding, I'm talking about not a flat rate on everything for everybody, but one with essential items exempted and which takes a higher percentage as prices rise.

Third, this so-called Fair Tax would abolish not only the personal income tax, but corporate income taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes, self-employment taxes and Social Security and Medicare payroll deductions.

My goodness. All that?

I'm mostly interested in replacing only the personal income tax on salary, wages and interest and dividends. We can talk about replacing capital gains, too, but only because a new congressional report says people have found ways to contrive capital losses that may be beyond the Internal Revenue Service's ability to monitor.

We need to raise the threshold on the estate tax for the Lucky Sperm Club, but not abolish it, if for no other reason than that rich people tend to give more to charities when estate taxes loom.

Social Security and Medicare would still take their payroll deductions.

Self-employment taxes are business taxes, and, as I'm about to relate, I'm for keeping those.

Fourth, this so-called Fair Tax would outrageously spare businesses from paying this 23 percent national sales tax on any business-to-business purchases used in production of goods and services. That means everything they buy. In other words, this "fair" tax proposal would do away with corporate income taxes and replace them with a sales tax that only consumers, but not businesses, would pay. That's an irresponsible, even immoral, shift of tax burden from corporations to consumers.

Fair Tax advocates say that the removal of taxes on business purchases would be passed on to consumers in lower prices that would be spurred by free-market economics. They say the result would be a generally revved-up economy.

I simply do not believe prices would drop. And I have never seen evidence of the theory of riches tricking down.

Pay at least one or the other -- corporate income taxes or sales taxes. That's what I say to businesses.

What about nonprofits? I suppose they'd have to keep a detailed record of retail purchases and get reimbursed.

By the way: I'd keep the itemized deductions for home mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Somebody needs to work on how to preserve 401Ks or convert them to equally advantageous savings devices.

In conclusion, I am pleased to have prompted thought and discussion. And while I would be delighted to encounter ready-made allies, I suspect my views are entirely too peculiar for that.

<i>John Brummett is an award-winning columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and author of High Wire, a book about Bill Clinton's first year as president. His e-mail address is brummett@arkansasnews.com