"One of the first acts of the U.S. government was an excise tax on distilled spirits in 1791..."
I believe that was a little different. If I'm not mistaken, the tax on whiskey was collected at the source rather than at the point of sale.
It's also worth noting that the tax was imposed on whiskey, and whiskey alone, instead of any number of other products that could have been taxed. The reason for this was simple -- those esteemed folks known as the Founding Fathers had no intention of taxing commodities like tobacco and cotton because they themselves would have been adversely affected by it.