US Tax Mavens Protecting Your Right To Get Plastered Abroad

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 WTO a while back, to no avail. In a turn of events that should surprise no one, it’s been discovered that the WTO has no actual power to enforce its policies, such as the one that says “countries should not discriminate between imported and domestic products in their tax regimes.”

Sounds a bit like the UN. All sizzle, no imported steak.