So-called tax experts are gazing dumbly towards the haze of pot smoke hanging over I-5 between Washington and California. Apparently, that tract of land isn’t limited to a freeway and a few rest stops between Seattle and San Francisco. No! There’s an entire state there with its own big-boy capital and training pants tax code. And lawmakers there are pissing all over it. Why are national tax experts interested in little ol’ Oregon? Why, because Oregon’s trying out a tax increase to deal with their bankrupting state. And the “experts” see it as a the first canary in the tax-raising mine. Yes, Oregon is proposing a(nother) income tax increase to pay for… well, something. But give the Oregon legislature a little credit – they’re not simply pushing through a tax increase, they’re having the people vote on it. “No problem, TaxRascal,” you say. “People don’t vote for tax increases.” Wrong! People don’t pass tax increases on themselves. But they’ll happily tax the teeth off their neighbors. Yes, the hippie (communist) spirit is alive and well in that patchouli bog of the Willamette Valley, and when you’re voting on a tax increase on anyone making more than $125K a year, well, then, let’s ...

Uncle Sam went to the WTO loaded for… well, it looks like Sam just wanted to go get loaded. On good ol’ US-brand firewater, that is! According to Reuters.com, the US is pissed at the Philippine government. Why? Well, Obama’s tax lieutenants have a problem with the Philippine’s distaste of Jack Daniels. The miniature nation of islands has an excise tax on America’s Whiskey and gin. No big deal, except the tax on American spirits is anywhere between 10-40 percent more than those from within its own borders. Listen, Philippines. America will look the other way if you kick around your second-class citizens or engage in some illegal arms dealing. The government could even deal with your tiny country having the temerity to provide its citizens with nationalized health care. But if you screw with US expatriates’ right to get drunk on old fashioned Maker’s Mark – at a reasonable price! – well then, you’re gonna be looking at the wrong side of a sternly-worded letter to the WTO. Incidentally, it turns out America’s not the only country suffering from unreasonable excise taxes from the draconian Philippine policy of petty taxation schemes. The EU filed their own grievance against the taxes to the ...