经济学人:英国税收 去往何处(1)

 　　Britain 英国

　　Tax: Let me tell you how it would be 税收：去往何处

　　Whoever wins the next election, taxes are likely to go up. 不管谁当选下任首相，税收都可能提高。

　　To finance the many costly² promises in its manifesto³ the Labour Party would need to increase taxes significantly. 工党为了给其宣言中的许多代价极高的承诺提供资金，需要大幅增加税收。

　　It has promised a steep rise in corporation tax and a higher rate of income tax for those earning more than 80,000 pounds ($104,000) a year. 工党已承诺将大幅提高企业所得税和对那些年收入超过80000英镑（合104000美元）的人征收更高的所得税。

　　The Liberal Democrats⁴ want to add one percentage point to each band of income tax to pay for extra spending on health care. 自由民主党希望在每一个所得税上增加一个百分点，以支付医疗保健的额外开支。

　　The Conservatives, by contrast, like to portray⁶ themselves as the party of low taxes. 相比之下，保守派喜欢把自己看作成低税收的政党。

　　On the campaign trail Theresa May has talked of her low-tax “instinct”. 在竞选活动中特蕾莎·梅谈到了她的低税收“本能”倾向。

　　But she has left the door open to higher taxes, in contrast to her party's promise in 2015 not to increase income tax,  但她已经向更高的税收敞开了大门，这与她所在的党在2015提出不增加所得税，

　　VAT⁵ or national insurance contributions (a payroll⁷ tax which Philip Hammond, the chancellor⁸ of the exchequer⁹, is keen to raise). 增值税或国民保险税的承诺相反（财政大臣菲利普·哈蒙德急于提高工资税）。

　　Regardless of the parties' manifestos, a look at Britain's accounts makes one thing clear: whoever wins on June 8th and whatever promises they make now,  不管各党派的宣言，看一看英国账户就清楚一件事：无论谁在6月8日赢得了，不管他们现在承诺什么，

　　in the coming years the tax burden is likely to rise to its highest level in decades. 来年税负有可能上升到近几十年来的最高水平。

　　When the Conservatives came to power in coalition¹⁰ with the Lib Dems in 2010, the government was running a budget deficit¹¹ worth 10% of GDP. 2010年保守党在与自由民主党联合执政时，政府财政赤字高达国内生产总值的10%。

　　As ministers went about reducing the deficit in the parliament of 2010-15, most of the adjustment was borne by cuts to public spending rather than by tax rises. 当一些部长在议会着手减少在2010年-2015年财政赤字时，大多数的调整是由削减公共开支而不是增税。

　　A number of departments, such as health, education and international development, have been largely spare the axe¹. 如医疗、教育、国际发展这些部门，基本都逃过一劫。

　　But others, such as work-and-pensions and transport, saw real terms cuts off more than a third in 2010-16. 但是其他部门，如劳务部及交通部，预算削减达到了2010-2016年间的三分之一。

　　Real spending on public services has fallen by 10% since 2009-10, the longest and biggest fall in spending on record. 公共服务支出自2009-2010年下降了10%，这是有记录以来持续时间最长、规模最大的支出削减。

　　This brought the budget deficit down to 4% of GDP in 2015-16. 这也2015-2016年政府赤字减至国内生产总值的4%。

1 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

2 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

3 manifesto   

n.宣言，声明

参考例句：

• I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
• His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。

4 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》

5 vat   

n.(=value added tax)增值税，大桶

参考例句：

• The office is asking for the vat papers.办事处要有关增值税的文件。
• His father emptied sacks of stale rye bread into the vat.他父亲把一袋袋发霉的黑面包倒进大桶里。

6 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

7 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

8 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

9 exchequer   

n.财政部；国库

参考例句：

• In Britain the Chancellor of the Exchequer deals with taxes and government spending.英国的财政大臣负责税务和政府的开支。
• This resulted in a considerable loss to the exchequer.这使国库遭受了重大损失。

10 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

11 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。