February 3, 2002
WTO and U.S. Tax Policy
In January 2002, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that a U.S. tax provision (called the Extraterritorial Income regime or ETI, which was a successor to the FSC or Foreign Sales Corporation) constituted an unfair trade subsidy to U.S. export companies. The WTO later ruled that failure by Washington to comply with this ruling could subject U.S. firms to as much as $4 billion in trade sanctions. Congress responded in October 2004 by passing the 2004 Corporate Tax and FSC/ETI Bill, also known as the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. (Download the full text of the passed FSC/ETI bill below).
See also: A short overview of the FSC/ETI debate.