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In January 2016, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump told NBC's Meet the Press that he was preparing a "big", "beautiful" tax return to make public before the November election. However Trump has yet to disclose his taxes, and in May he was quoted saying that such documents would likely never be released, as there is "nothing to learn from them". So, is there any merit to this? Why are presidential candidates expected to release their tax returns?
2016年1月，共和黨總統候選人唐納德·特朗普在美國全國廣播公司的《與媒體見面》節目上表示，他正在準備一份“宏大”且“出色”的納稅申報單，并在11月的大選之前公開。不過，特朗普尚未披露他的稅款，今年5月，有人引用他的話說，這類文件很可能永遠不會公布，因為“從這些文件中無法得知任何信息”。那么，這有什么好處呢？為什么總統候選人要公布納稅申報單？
Well, a federal income tax return is, in many ways, a snapshot of a person's socioeconomic profile. The document shows the owner's income, charitable donations, business ventures and, of course, how much money they've paid in taxes. Tax returns can also reveal offshore holdings or foreign bank accounts, which can be used for money laundering or tax evasion.
在很多方面，聯邦所得稅申報單都能反映出一個人的社會經濟狀況。這份文件顯示了所有者的收入、慈善捐款、商業業務，當然還有他們支付了多少稅款。納稅申報單還可以展示出可用于洗錢或逃稅的境外持股或國外銀行賬戶。
Every U.S. citizen, including candidates for public office, have the right to keep their tax returns private. However, presidential and vice presidential candidates are strongly encouraged, and even expected, to publicly disclose those documents.
每個美國公民，包括公職候選人，都有權對納稅申報單保密。不過，大眾卻強烈鼓勵、甚至期待總統候選人和副總統候選人公開披露這些文件。
This idea can be traced back to President Richard Nixon, who, while running as the vice presidential candidate in 1952, called for his opponents to release their financial information to gain the full faith of the American people. Ironically, Nixon refused to release his own tax returns until 1973, more than 20 years later.
這一想法可以追溯到理查德·尼克松總統在1952年競選副總統那時，他呼吁他的對手公布他們的財務信息，以獲得美國人民的充分信任。諷刺的是，尼克松直到20多年后的1973年才公布自己的納稅申報單。
Nixon's impropriety during the infamous Watergate scandal led to the Ethics in Government Act in 1978. The act required all presidential candidates to publicly disclose their financial and employment history, but it did not include releasing federal tax returns.
尼克松在臭名昭著的水門事件中的不當行為后來促成了一項立法，那就是1978年的《政府道德法》。該法案要求所有總統候選人公開披露其財務和就業歷史，但不包括公布聯邦納稅申報單。
