There is at least one factual error in this column. tax pyramiding was pretty much eliminated in the ninties. So says the National Tax Foundation.. As to the regressivity, its regressive but not nearly as much as a regular sales tax. While Stewart used the example of food, he leaves out what is really unusual about GET, it taxes services. And services are disproportionally used by higher income people. And a substantial portion of the General Excise Tax is exported, between 10 and 20 percent. The number vairies because some only count tourism and don't keep up with the proportion of tourism expenditures. The higher number comes if you count armed forces personnel. Who don't pay income tax but do pay the General Excisd Tax. Then there is the bigger picture. True tax experts don't only look at the revenue side but the expenditure side. Social Security has a regressive tax but actually shifts the total us system to progressivity. So who is going to ride rail? Disproportionally low income.