 FairTax opponents state that compliance decreases when taxes are not automatically withheld from citizens , and that massive tax evasion could result by collecting at just one point in the economic system . Compliance rates can also fall when taxed entities , rather than a third party , self @-@ report their tax liability . For example , ordinary personal income taxes can be automatically withheld and are reported to the government by a third party . Taxes without withholding and with self @-@ reporting , such as the FairTax , can see higher evasion rates . Economist Jane Gravelle of the Congressional Research Service found studies showing that evasion rates of sales taxes are often above 10 % , even when the sales tax rate is in the single digits . Tax publications by the Organisation for Economic Co @-@ operation and Development ( OECD ) , IMF , and Brookings Institution have suggested that the upper limit for a sales tax is about 10 % before incentives for evasion become too great to control . According to the GAO , 80 % of state tax officials opposed a national sales tax as an intrusion on their tax base . Opponents also raise concerns of legal tax avoidance by spending and consuming outside of the U.S. ( imported goods would be subject to collection by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection ) . 
