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When G20 finance ministers meet on July 18th and 19th, avoiding a new trade war will be high on the agenda.
當G20財政部長于7月18日和19日會面時，避免一場新的貿易戰爭將成為議程上的重要議題。
Cash-strapped governments around the world are planning to whack taxes on online services.
手頭拮據的世界各國政府正計劃對在線服務征稅。
But America regards these as a grab for its companies' profits, and is considering retaliation against ten digital-tax proposals.
但美國認為這是對其公司利潤的搶奪，并考慮對十項數字稅提案進行報復。
On July 10th it said it would respond to France's tax by hitting French handbags, lipstick and soap with tariffs of 25%.
7月10日，其表示將對法國征稅做出回應，向法國手袋、口紅以及香皂征收25%的關稅。
Unless a truce is struck, the tariffs will go into effect in January.
除非達成休戰協議，否則這些關稅將在明年一月份生效。
The root cause of the dispute is a flaw in the international tax system. In order to avoid taxing businesses twice,
這場紛爭的根源是國際稅收體系中的一個缺陷。為了避免對企業二次征稅，
governments typically apply the corporate tax to firms that are legally domiciled on their shores or have a local physical base,
政府通常向在本國境內合法注冊或在當地有實體基礎的公司征收公司稅，
and link the amount due to the location of their assets and production.
并根據他們資產的所在地以及生產勾定稅額。
But now many companies provide online services and can shift intellectual property to low-tax regimes with the click of a button.
但現在很多公司都提供在線服務，并且點擊一下按鈕就可以將知識產權轉移至低稅收制度的國家。
A system intended to stop profits being taxed too much allows them to be taxed too little.
一個意在阻止對利潤過度征稅的體系，卻讓他們被征收過少的稅。
In 2017 40% of profits made by multinational firms outside their home country were shifted to tax havens,
丹麥稅務部的Thomas Torslov，以及加州大學伯克利分校的Ludvig Wier和Gabriel Zucman認為，
reckon Thomas Torslov, now at the Danish Ministry of Taxation, and Ludvig Wier and Gabriel Zucman of the University of California, Berkeley.
在2017年，投資國以外的跨國公司所得利潤的40%被轉移至了避稅地。
That meant more than $200bn in forgone tax revenue, equivalent to 10% of global corporate-tax receipts.
這意味著放棄了超過2000億美元的稅收收入，相當于全球企業稅收收入的10%。
This is a relatively small amount: by comparison, governments worldwide have unleashed stimulus of $5.4trn in response to covid-19.
這是一個相對較小的數目：相比之下，為應對covid-19，世界各國政府已經放出了5.4萬億美元的刺激資金。
But it is symbolically important and rightly irks taxpayers, who must fill the hole.
但這有重要的象征意義，也理所當然地惹惱了納稅人，因為他們必須填補這個漏洞。
For several years now, the OECD, a club of rich countries, has convened governments in the hope of plugging the tax leaks.
幾年來，富國俱樂部——經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）召集各國政府，希望堵住稅收漏洞。
The idea is that the G20 meeting lays the groundwork so that the OECD's summit, planned for October, yields results.
他們想先在G20會議上奠定基礎，以便在10月舉行的OECD峰會上得到結果。
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