航空
Plane stupid
愚蠢至“機”
Private jets receive ludicrous tax breaks that hurt the environment
私人飛機破壞環(huán)境而又享受荒謬可笑的稅收優(yōu)惠
The blue jeans and T-shirts of the global elite are no more comfortable than those worn by the middle class. They drink the same coffee, watch the same films and carry the same smartphones. But a gulf yawns between the rich and the rest when they fly. Ordinary folk squeeze agonisingly and sleeplessly into cheap seats. The elite stretch out flat and slumber. And the truly wealthy avoid the hassles and indignities of crowded airports entirely, by taking private jets. This would be no one else’s business but for two things. First, private jets are horribly polluting. Second, they are often—and outrageously—subsidised.
世界精英的藍色牛仔褲和T恤衫并不比中產(chǎn)階級的更舒適。他們喝同樣的咖啡，看同樣的電影，用同樣的智能手機。但富人和其余人在乘坐飛機的時候就會拉開鴻溝。普通民眾痛苦而又失眠地擠在經(jīng)濟艙。精英平躺著安眠。而頂級富豪們則乘坐私人飛機，完全避免了擁擠機場里的爭吵和不堪。這本不關(guān)別人的事，但有兩點引起關(guān)注的原因。第一，私人飛機污染嚴(yán)重。第二，私人飛機經(jīng)常會得到補貼，而且數(shù)量驚人。
Private aviation was hit hard by the global financial crisis, when both companies and individuals sought to pare expenses. But now private jets are booming again. This is partly because new booking services and shared-ownership schemes are cutting the cost of going private and luring busy executives away from first-and business-class seats on scheduled flights. But the boom is also a result of tax breaks, which are even more generous than those lavished on ordinary airlines. In Europe firms and individuals can avoid paying value-added tax on imported private jets by routing purchases through the Isle of Man. This scheme has cut tax bills by £790m ($1bn) for imports of at least 200 aircraft into the European Union since 2011. America’s rules are loopier still. Donald Trump’s tax reform allowed individuals and companies to write off 100% of the cost of a new or used private jet against their federal taxes. For some plutocrats this has wiped out an entire year’s tax bill. For others, it has made buying a jet extraordinarily cheap.
全球金融危機重創(chuàng)了私人航空業(yè)，私人航空公司和個人都試圖削減開支。但如今私人飛機又開始蓬勃發(fā)展。一定程度上是因為新的預(yù)訂服務(wù)和股權(quán)分享計劃正在降低私人飛機的成本，并吸引了乘定期航班頭等艙和商務(wù)艙忙碌的高管們。但這種繁榮也是稅收優(yōu)惠的結(jié)果，對于私人飛機的稅收優(yōu)惠甚至比普通航空公司還要慷慨。在歐洲，公司和個人可以在馬恩島購買進口私人飛機，從而避免繳納增值稅。自2011年以來，該計劃已將至少200架飛機的進口關(guān)稅削減7.9億英鎊(合10億美元)。而美國的規(guī)則更荒唐。唐納德·特朗普的稅收改革允許個人和企業(yè)將購買一架新私人飛機或二手私人飛機的全部成本抵減聯(lián)邦稅收。對一些富豪來說，這已經(jīng)抵消了全年的稅單。而對于其他富豪，這使得購買飛機異常便宜。
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來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/Article/201903/580557.shtml
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