Via Jason Ditz

In comments published today in a Pakistani business paper, US Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin pressed for Pakistan to dramatically raise taxes, insisting that “Pakistanis pay less for their government than nearly any other country in the region.”

To that end, Secretary Wolin urged Pakistan’s parliament to enact value-added tax (VAT) legislation. The comments echoed those made in September by the International Monetary Fund.

I’m not sure where the US Federalis get the idea that they should have any say, whatsoever, on the tax rate structure of other countries – or where they’d even get the authority to be involved in such activities in the Constitution – but there you have it. It doesn’t matter whether the policy is foreign or domestic, economic or defense. The bottom line remains the same – the US government feels it has the legal authority to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants. It’s time for that to end.

Michael Boldin