Democrats criticized the recommendations, saying they would raise taxes for lower-income workers. Some conservatives, including DeMint, call the recommendations weak. "This is not thinking into the future," DeMint told the Cato audience. Advocates of large-scale change hope the report and the debate over it pushes Congress to action. But with the 2006 midterm elections approaching, it's unlikely lawmakers will take significant action on DeMint's proposal or other proposed overhauls of the federal tax code. However, DeMint's proposal is stirring some interest beyond the Beltway. Robert Baldwin, president-elect of the South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants, said DeMint's and Graham's proposal sounds like it might have possibilities. The association has taken no position on the bill, which was introduced Wednesday. "It's a rather interesting plan," he said, adding he'd have to study the DeMint-Graham plan more closely. Baldwin said he shares his clients' frustration over the federal tax code. "Everybody thinks accountants like the complexity," Baldwin said. "We're fatigued by it." DeMint built his 2004 Senate campaign around a 23 percent national sales tax. But his opponent, Inez Tenenbaum, successfully attacked it as raising people's daily living costs before her campaign floundered over the question of whether gays should be allowed to teach in public schools. DeMint said his new proposal is workable and would provide protections for the poor who pay little in federal taxes but spend more of their income on items likely to be subject to sales taxes. The federal government would continue to collect payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, DeMint said. However, taxpayers would get a percentage of those taxes returned to them in the form of rebates to help with paying the sales tax.