每日一篇:《经济学人》读译参考 Day76

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经济学人:继承税:为向死亡征税而辩(1)

Leaders

领导者

The case for taxing death

为向死亡征税而辩

How to balance people's desire to bequeath assets with the unfairness of inheritance.

如何用继承的不公平去平衡人们对遗赠资产的欲望。

No tax is popular.But one attracts particular venom.Inheritance tax is routinely seen as the least fair by Britons and Americans.This hostility spans income brackets.Indeed, surveys suggest that opposition to inheritance and estate taxes (one levied on heirs and the other on legacies) is even stronger among the poor than the rich.

译文

没有一种税受人待见。但是，有一种税招致特别的怨恨。在英国人和美国人眼里，继承税通常是最缺少公平的。这种敌意贯穿各个收入阶层。实际上，各种调查显示，对继承税和遗产税（前者对继承人征收，后者对遗产征收）的反对，在穷人中甚至比在富人中更为强烈。

Politicians know a vote-winner when they see one.The estate of a dead adult American is 95% less likely to face tax now than in the 1960s.And Republicans want to go all the way: the House of Representatives has passed a tax-reform plan that would completely abolish “death taxes” by 2025.

译文

政客们知道怎么去赢得选票。如今，死去的成年美国人的遗产比上世纪60年代，少了95%的面对税收的可能性。而且共和党意欲一条道走到黑：众议院已经通过了一项税改计划，该计划会到2025年完全废除各种“死亡税”。

For a time before the second world war, Britons were more likely to pay death duties than income tax; today less than 5% of estates catch the taxman's eye.It is not just Anglo-Saxons. Revenue from these taxes in OECD countries, as a share of total government revenue, has fallen sharply since the 1960s.

译文

二战前有一段时间，在死亡税和收入税之间，英国人一度更加有可能缴纳前者；如今，不足5%的遗产引起税务人员的注意。不仅英美，在经合组织国家中，来自这些税的收入作为政府总收入的占比，自上世纪60年代以来也急剧下降了。

Many other countries have gone down the same path.In 2004 even the egalitarian Swedes decided that their inheritance tax should be abolished.Yet this trend towards trifling or zero estate taxes ought to give pause.

译文

许多其他国家走过了同样的道路。甚至主张平均主义的瑞典也在2004年决定，他们的遗产税应当被废除。然而，这种朝向微量或者零遗产税的趋势应当暂停。

注释

1.estate taxes 遗产税；不动产税

例句:The case for retaining estate taxes in Britain and America is weaker on grounds of simplicity.

英国和美国保留的不动产税在简易性的考虑上有所不周。

2.go down 下降；平静

例句:Their aircraft went down during a training exercise.

他们的飞机在一次训练中坠毁。

3.inheritance tax 遗产税

例句:The group is in the process of an upheaval that some put down to an attempt by the family to reduce inheritance tax.

该集团正在经历一场剧变，一些人将这场剧变归结为李氏家族试图减少遗传税的努力。

4.For a time 暂时；一段时间

例句:I think you ought to give football a rest for a time.

我认为你应该暂时停止踢足球。

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