A Real World Problem
New York Times 02/14/06 -- By Paul Meller
The World Trade Organization ruled yesterday that tax breaks the United States gives to some of its largest companies are illegal and the European Union said it would impose new trade sanctions in three months unless the tax breaks were abolished... The ruling is the second in four years involving tax breaks that the United States granted to 6,000 exporters, including Boeing, Microsoft and General Electric, initially under the Foreign Sales Corporation program and subsequently under the American Jobs Creation Act... The dispute about tax breaks for American companies dates back to the mid-1980's but it became more complicated when the United States and the European Union both turned to the World Trade Organization to try to resolve a separate dispute over subsidies to Boeing and Airbus.