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Tax systems have also failed to adapt to technological change.
稅制也未能適應技術變革。
The rising importance of intellectual property means that it is almost impossible to pin down where a multinational really makes money.
知識產權越來越重要，這意味著幾乎不可能明確跨國公司在哪里能真的賺到錢。
Tech giants like Apple and Amazon stash their intangible capital in havens such as Ireland, and pay too little tax elsewhere.
像蘋果公司和亞馬遜這樣的科技巨頭都暗中將自己的無形資本放在像愛爾蘭這樣的天堂，而在其他地方只繳納很少的稅。
This month it emerged that Amazon’s British subsidiary paid ￡1.7m ($2.2m) in tax last year,
本月得知亞馬遜的英國子公司去年繳稅170萬英鎊（合220萬英鎊），
on profits of ￡72m and revenues of ￡11.4bn.
而利潤為7200萬英鎊，收入為114億英鎊。
By one recent estimate, close to 40% of multinational profits are shifted to low-tax countries each year.
根據最近估計，每年跨國公司近40%的利潤都會轉移到低稅國家。
The “solutions” to such problems often only exacerbate the daunting complexity of today’s tax code—
這類問題的“應對措施”通常只會加劇如今稅制的繁復——
and, if lobbies have their way, add extra loopholes too.
而且，如果游說團體很有一套，又會產生新漏洞。
The European Union wants to determine when firms have a “virtual nexus” in a state,
歐盟想知道公司何時同某個國家有“虛擬聯系”，
and will then allocate profits across countries using a complicated formula.
之后再通過復雜的公式將利潤分配給各國。
America’s supposedly simplifying recent tax reform included stunningly complex new rules for multinationals.
據稱，美國近期稅制改革簡化包括針對跨國公司的極其復雜的新規則。
International efforts to co-operate to prevent profit-shifting have made progress.
防止利潤轉移的國際努力已取得新進展。
But they are hamstrung by disagreements over how to treat technology firms and competition for investment in a world where capital crosses borders.
但分歧仍然存在，在資本跨國的世界如何對待技術公司和投資競爭仍待商榷。
Fundamental tax reform can boost growth and make societies fairer—
基本的稅制改革能促進經濟增長和社會公平——
whatever the share of GDP a government takes in tax.
無論政府稅收占GDP多少比例。
Fortunately, the principles according to which rich countries can design a good system are clear:
幸運的是，富裕國家可以根據這個原則設計一個好的稅制：
taxes should target rents, preserve incentives and be hard to avoid.
稅收應以租金為目標，保留激勵措施，并使之難以避稅。
All countries should tax both property and inheritance more.
所有國家都應對財產和遺產征收更多的稅。
These taxes are unpopular but mostly efficient.
如此征稅雖不甚受歡迎，但大多行之有效。
In a world where property ownership brings windfalls that persist across generations, such taxes are desirable.
房產所有權可以給千秋萬代帶來意外之財，在這樣的世界，如此征稅合情合理。
A conservative first step would be to roll back recent cuts to inheritance tax.
保守的第一步是增加近期削減過的遺產稅。
A more radical approach would be to introduce a land-value tax,
更激進的方法是引入土地增值稅，
the most efficient of all property taxes and one with a long liberal heritage.
這在所有房產稅里面最行之有效，且具長期自由傳統。
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