新西兰英语 237 Tax

　　The Tax Working Group, which is a group of experts, gave their report this week. They have been looking at our tax laws to see if they are fair to everyone and if they help the economy to grow. The Working Group said that at the moment some rich people find legal ways to hide their income so they don’t pay so much tax. The group suggested increasing GST to 15% or 17.5%. This means that people who spend more, pay more tax.
In 2007, the average family spent about $950 a week. An increase in GST would add an extra $21. The government wants to make tax cuts on personal income tax especially for high income earners.
The Working Group also thought that company tax should be reduced. This would be good for business. However, the group suggested a land tax, for people who own land, and a property tax for people like landlords¹ who own more than one house. The group said that investing² in land or property is not the best way to help the economy.
A capital gains tax is another suggestion from the group but we know that the government does not want this tax on the family home. For more information about this tax, listen to Sept 14th 2009.
Bill English, the Minster of Finance³, now has this report to read, and he will decide what tax changes he wants to make. He said he wants to listen to other people also. We now have to wait for the Budget in May to find out what changes Bill English will make.

1 landlords   

房东； 房东，地主( landlord的名词复数 )； 店主

参考例句：

• Local landlords drove them off their plots. 当地的地主们把他们从小块土地上赶走。
• Think on this, you drunken rich, and scornful landlords. 想想这个问题吧，你们这些醉醺醺的富人，傲慢的地主。

2 investing   

v.投资，花费( invest的现在分词 )；授予；（把资金）投入；投入（时间、精力等）

参考例句：

• He was timid about investing money. 他不敢投资。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Europe also caught the excitement of investing in American railroads. 欧洲人对投资美国铁路也极感兴趣。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

3 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。