Why Can't George Do Math?

I'm very worried about George Will. As fantastic a columnist as he is, he just doesn't seem to have a head for numbers.

He must be a product of the public school system.

Today, Mr. Will discusses the "Fair Tax." Now, I don't consider myself an expert on taxation, but I did read the Fair Tax website many months ago, the same site where Mr. Will seems to have gathered most of his material. I wrote a diary about it here.

My favorite fallacy of the "Fair Tax" is the actual tax rate itself:

His bill would abolish the IRS and the many billions of tax forms it sends out and receives. He would erase the federal income tax system -- personal and corporate income taxes, the regressive payroll tax and self-employment tax, capital gains, gift and estate taxes, the alternative minimum tax and the earned income tax credit -- and replace all that with a 23 percent national sales tax on personal consumption.

Now, where do they come up with that rate?

Here, in the FAQ's, they point out that the tax rate is "23 cents out of every dollar."

But that's not a 23% sales tax. A 23% sales tax is paying a dollar and being charged $1.23. This is spending $0.77 and getting charged a dollar, which makes it a 29.9 % tax.

Why are you lying to us, George? That's not very fair.