I'd read the Fair Tax book anyway, whether you agree with the premise or not it is a good read, I agree with you that it has little chance of being implemented for two reasons, one, as you mentioned the IRS doesn't want to give up it's power, and also the CPA lobby enjoys the easy way of "big hitting" around April 15, i.e., the bulk of their incomes comes between Jan.-Apr. with late filers allowing them to basically coast the rest of the year, with a flat tax these CPAs would actually have to find employment with companies and *gasp* work year round like the rest of us. I'll say this though, the fair tax is so simple it's brilliant.
The idea is to implement the tax first, it is weighted to provide sufficient operating funds for existing programs with the idea of weening the government off of spending and waste in an economically viable timeframe, the concept involves a trimming effect on overspending, forcing programs to lean down through the natural progression of legislative law, not by shock and awe economic leveraging
Most fair minded conservatives would state that we have too many entitlements, but we have so much at the moment that immediate elimination would damage the economy past the benefit of the reductions, many of us advocate a strategic roll back of programs to what is necessary, but to eliminate the fat, we would use a scalpel, not a hatchet. I agree, but I would also commend those that put their position at risk to do what needs to be done towards solvency.