Sounds typically Bush
Put forth a proposal that says it address the problem, but actually implements various long standing neo-conservative goals. Push it through Congress quickly and without much discussion. Attach some pork barrel projects to secure support where needed.
Proclaim victory, refuse to discuse issue further.
As for a national sales tax, the idea was dropped after a commission member, Edward P. Lazear, a labor economist at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution, a public policy research center, reported that the sales tax would have to be as high as 87 percent on most goods and services if items like medicine, education, food and clothing were not taxed.
From what I have heard, his report was a hatchet job. He pretty much excluded everthing that is a regular or common expense from taxation, which naturally resulted in an absurdly high tax on what was left over.
Jay