As Perrspectives detailed here and here, the ever-charming GOP frontrunner and surprise Iowa winner Mike Huckabee is probably the most alarming extremist thrown up by either party in a generation. But while his most dangerous pronouncements involve his zealous determination to save souls for the next life, his radical tax proposals would surely impoverish them in this one. One key, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister tells us, is to tax sinners like prostitutes and drug dealers.

That, at least, is a talking point Huckabee is using to peddle the so-called "Fair Tax," his national sales tax scheme by which he would abolish the hated IRS. As he told a gathering at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce in New Hampshire:

"You end the underground economy. Illegals, prostitutes, pimps, gamblers, drug dealers - everybody pays taxes."

Politicians and academics on both sides of the aisle have at different times called for adding a national consumption tax to encourage savings and investment. But Mike Huckabee is at the forefront of a new wave of Republicans advocating ending the income tax altogether, ensuring a massive redistribution of wealth to - and tax burden away from - the richest Americans.

As both Robert Novak, Wall Street Journal and the National Review suggest, Huckabee's strategy is designed to help him "avoid talk of his own checkered tax past in Little Rock."

He promises to abolish the IRS, and along with it all current income, corporate, payroll and other taxes--to be replaced with a 23% national sales, or consumption, tax. He's also promised repeal of the 16th amendment--which established the income tax--to ensure Americans don't get double-taxation.

Of course, the so-called "Fair Tax" wouldn't merely shift the tax burden down the income ladder to Americans who by necessity must spend a greater percentage of their wages and salaries on consumption. As Republican Bruce Bartlett, a deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury from 1988 to 1993, made clear, the 23% figure itself is a "deception." Bartlett argues that "professional revenue estimators have always concluded that a national retail sales tax would have to be much, much higher than 23%," and depending on how state taxes are addressed, "a rate of 64% would be required." The implications for the American economy, especially for low and middle income taxpayers, would be devastating. It's no wonder Bartlett says of Huckabee and his "Fair Tax" ilk, "voters should not take seriously any candidate who supports it."

The Fair Tax may be a joke, but is not intended to be one in the infamous Mike Huckabee comic repertoire the New York Times detailed here, here and here. With his national sales tax scheme and the abolition of the IRS, there is one joke Huckabee apparently hopes to never tell - or hear again. (Warning: inappropriate, off-color humor follows.)

A prostitute goes to the IRS to pay taxes. When the agent asks her occupation, she replies, "Prostitute." Appalled, he says, "We can't put that down." Calmly, the hooker instead suggests, "OK, put down 'chicken farmer.'" Confused, the IRS agent asks her, "Why a chicken farmer?" "Because," she says, "I raise 1500 c**ks a year."