美国国家公共电台 NPR--House Democrats release former President Trump's tax returns

House Democrats¹ release former President Trump²'s tax returns

Transcript³

The Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee has released Donald Trump's tax returns, ending the former president's yearslong battle to keep them secret.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee has released Donald Trump's tax returns. And it's unprecedented⁴ because the former president defied tradition when he refused to release his tax records while in office. And he continued to try and keep them secret after leaving office. In a summary earlier this month, the committee revealed that Trump paid 1.1 million in federal income taxes during his first three years in office. He paid none in 2020. On the line with us now is Philip London. He is a CPA with the public accounting⁵ firm Wiss. Philip, so why is it significant that we're seeing these returns now?

PHILIP LONDON: It's significant because it's showing us what the IRS has not done in reviewing the returns and to the extent of the losses and questionable⁶ deductions⁸ that Mr. Trump has claimed on his tax returns.

MART?NEZ: So that's interesting - what the IRS has not done. And that's something that - I think everyone has been wondering why they haven't done that.

LONDON: That's an excellent question, to which we don't have a definitive⁹ answer. It could be that political pressure was placed on them, which is not impossible. Although historically, the IRS has not been a political engine for people in power, it appears that now it has been. But the other thing has - goes back to what I once referred to as starving the beast. The IRS since 2000 has had very limited resources and has been unable to allocate¹⁰ those resources where necessary. And it is a result of tax cuts and not necessarily reducing spending. So that's a problem.

MART?NEZ: But considering who it is and the uniqueness of the situation, why wouldn't they devote a little more attention to this?

LONDON: Again, an excellent question. How they could only put one auditor¹¹ doing risk assessment¹² on what could be one of the most complicated returns that the IRS sees any year - it has 400 passthrough entities¹³. It has significant expenses, appraisals¹⁵ and intercompany transactions that really require a team of auditors¹⁶. So they're auditing¹⁷ it as if it's an individual when this is really a large business enterprise. And they're not looking at the underlying¹⁸ facts that go into the personal return.

MART?NEZ: And it's thousands of pages long.

LONDON: So for example, there were many...

MART?NEZ: Yeah, it's thousands of pages long.

LONDON: Excuse me?

MART?NEZ: It's thousands of pages long. So, I mean, to think that only one person is - was dealing¹⁹ with this. But I'm wondering, Philip, as a CPA, what would you be looking for in these actual returns?

LONDON: Well, I would be looking at the easement appraisals. He took charitable deductions on a property in West Chester called Seven Springs. And he made a charitable deduction⁷ of the use of the property and had that valued at $21.1 million. The IRS eventually looked at that. And they have two alternative approaches to adjusting it, one, to disallow²⁰ it because the appraisal¹⁴ was substandard or two...

MART?NEZ: We have to leave it right there. I'm sorry, Philip. That's Philip London, CPA with the public accounting firm Wiss. Thank you very much.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

6 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

7 deduction   

n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎

参考例句：

• No deduction in pay is made for absence due to illness.因病请假不扣工资。
• His deduction led him to the correct conclusion.他的推断使他得出正确的结论。

8 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

9 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

10 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

11 auditor   

n.审计员，旁听着

参考例句：

• The auditor was required to produce his working papers.那个审计员被要求提供其工作底稿。
• The auditor examines the accounts of all county officers and departments.审计员查对所有县官员及各部门的帐目。

12 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

13 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

14 appraisal   

n.对…作出的评价；评价，鉴定，评估

参考例句：

• What's your appraisal of the situation?你对局势是如何评估的？
• We need to make a proper appraisal of his work.对于他的工作我们需要做出适当的评价。

15 appraisals   

估计，估量，评价( appraisal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He had read many detailed critical appraisals of her work. 他读了许多详细评论她的作品的文章。
• The English themselves are somewhat insular in their literary appraisals. 英国人评价自己的文学，也不免有偏狭处。

16 auditors   

n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生

参考例句：

• The company has been in litigation with its previous auditors for a full year. 那家公司与前任审计员已打了整整一年的官司。
• a meeting to discuss the annual accounts and the auditors' report thereon 讨论年度报表及其审计报告的会议

17 auditing   

n.审计，查账，决算

参考例句：

• Auditing standards are the rules governing how an audit is performed.收支检查标准是规则统治一个稽核如何被运行。
• The auditing services market is dominated by a few large accounting firms.审计服务市场被几家大型会计公司独占了。

18 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

19 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

20 disallow   

v.不允许；拒绝

参考例句：

• I believe oneself,I am obstinate disallow me to stay back!我相信我自己，倔强不允许我退后！
• The policy adopted in this book is to disallow Leibnizian notation within the text.本书采用的办法是在正文中不用莱布尼兹记号。