評論
打印
Finance and economics
商業報道
Tax breaks
稅收優惠
Bribing the taxpayer
討好納稅人
Wasteful tax perks are sadly common
遺憾的是，稅收優惠經常被浪費
ANY talk of tax reform in America quickly turns to tax expenditures, meaning the code's myriad exemptions, deductions and credits.
一談到美國的稅收改革，很快就能轉向稅式支出這個話題，這意味著大量的稅收減免和政府收入減少。
These now cost 7% of GDP. Economists deride many of them as handouts for influential firms and middle-class voters.
現在這些優惠占到了GDP的7%。經濟學家嘲笑他們受惠者中許多人都是頗有影響力的企業和中產階級選民。
But for just that reason, politicians are reluctant to curb them.
但也就是這個原因促使政客不愿意減少相關優惠。
A new paper from the IMF suggests other countries have much the same problem.
國際貨幣基金組織的一篇新文章表明，有很多國家存在同樣的問題。
America, it turns out, is not the most profligate provider of tax breaks.
事實證明，美國在稅收減免優惠方面并不是最大方的。
Australia and Italy spend more on them, as a proportion of their GDP.
澳大利亞和意大利的稅收優惠所占GDP份額更高，
Britain and Spain are not far behind.
英國和西班牙的稅式支出緊隨其后。
The bulk of the spending goes on individual income-tax relief for things like saving for pensions and interest payments on mortgages.
大部分個人所得稅被養老保險和抵押貸款利息抵免。
That Europe still spends lavishly on tax discounts in spite of its fiscal problems is especially striking.
盡管歐洲財政問題舉世矚目，但其在稅收優惠方面依然大手筆。
Italy gives away 1.8 billion each year on tax breaks for farmers alone.
意大利政府每年對農民的稅收優惠金額高達18億歐元。
Germany spends over 2 billion a year subsidising bonus payments for working evenings and weekends—an incentive first introduced by the Nazis to boost munitions production during the second world war.
德國每年耗費超過20億獎金補貼給那些上夜班和周末加班的人士——這項獎勵首次使用是在第二次世界大戰期間，是時納粹為了提高彈藥生產率而頒布了這項優惠。
The financial crisis has been a missed opportunity to cut this sort of outdated largesse, says Pierre Leblanc of the OECD.
經合組織工作人員Pierre Leblan表示金融危機是縮減稅收優惠的絕妙機會，但是卻被錯過了。
While some countries have trimmed them to help cut their deficits, others, like Britain and France, have introduced new ones to encourage investment.
雖然有些國家為了削減赤字而減少了稅收優惠，像英國和法國也已經為了鼓勵投資而另辟蹊徑。
Overall, they remain at a similar level to before the crisis.
但是，總的來說他們的稅收優惠仍處于危機前水平。
The IMF argues that now is the time to roll back tax breaks to help cut budget deficits.
IMF認為，現在是時候削減稅收優惠了，以達到削減預算赤字的目標。
Regular review would increase scrutiny of outdated perks.
定期審查將增加對過時津貼的安全性。
Many could be replaced with more targeted measures: most of the benefit is currently enjoyed by the rich rather than those needing help.
許多優惠可以更換為更有針對性：就目前而言，大多數優惠項目都是大而廣泛的，而稅收優惠的受惠者多為有錢人而不是那些真正需要的人。
For instance, over half of income-tax breaks in America go to the richest 20% of households, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
根據國會預算辦公室數據顯示，例如，美國20%的最富有家庭的所得稅減免超過所得稅額的一半，
The poorest 20% are left with just 8% of the pie.
而20%的最窮家庭的稅收優惠卻只有其所得稅額的8%。
Spain is reviewing its tax expenditures as part of its austerity drive. But Italy is a more typical case.
西班牙政府正在審閱其稅式支出的緊縮計劃。但意大利在方面更快一步。
The IMF sees scope for making savings of up to 61 billion.
國際貨幣基金組織認為該計劃的實施能至少節約610億歐元。
Yet the latest budget law, passed last month, requires tax breaks to be pruned by just 10 billion by 2017.
然而上個月通過的最新預算法案要求，僅需到2017年以前，縮減100億歐元的稅收優惠便可。
Even that proved politically unpalatable: on January 21st the government was reported to be rescinding the planned cuts.
而即使這樣也帶來政治上的不快：1月21日，意大利政府宣布取消削減計劃。
Higher taxes, it seems, are unpopular everywhere.
更高的稅負，似乎到處都是不受歡迎的。
