经济学人:英国税收 去往何处(2)

 　　Departments can make efficiency improvements up to a point, but eventually ever-smaller budgets make it difficult to provide core services. 部门可以将效率提高到一个点，但最终规模较小的预算难以提供核心服务。

　　From prisons to the National Health Service, measures of performance started to go south from around 2014,  从监狱到国家卫生服务机构，绩效指标从2014年左右开始上升。

　　according to a recent report from the Institute for Government, a think-tank. 这是根据政府智囊机构最近的一份报告得出的。

　　The rate of child poverty, which fell during the 2000s, is now rising sharply, in part because of big cuts in working-age benefits. 儿童贫困率在2000年期间下降，现在急剧上升，部分原因是由于工作年龄福利大幅削减。

　　Since the election in 2015 the government has subtly adopted a new approach to austerity: less emphasis on spending cuts, more on tax rises. 自2015大选以来，政府巧妙地采用了一种新的紧缩政策：少关注削减开支，多关注增加税收。

　　In the average budget or autumn statement since then, the government has called for tax rises four times as big as the average in the parliament of 2010-15. 在平均预算或秋季声明之后，政府已呼吁比议会在2010-2015年的平均税收增加四倍。

　　Granted, the personal allowance for income tax has risen. 的确，个人所得税免税额已上升。

　　The headline rate of corporation tax has been cut. 公司税的总税率已被削减。

　　Yet increases in less-noticed charges such as environmental taxes,  然而，增加较少关注的费用，如环境税，

　　stamp duty (a levy¹ on property transactions) and insurance-premium tax (levied on everything from holiday to vehicle insurance) have more than compensated². 印花税（物业交易税）和保险费税（征收的一切从假日到车辆保险）已超过所给的补偿了。

　　Mr Hammond is fast gaining a reputation as a tax-grabber. 哈蒙德很快赢得作为一个“税收-攫取者者”的名声。

　　In his first budget in March the chancellor³ pencilled in a reduction in the tax-free allowance for dividend⁴ income from 5,000 pounds to 2,000 pounds. 财政大臣预计在三月第一个预算中为股息收入从5000英镑到2000英镑减少免税额。

　　He also proposed an increase in the national-insurance contributions paid by the self-employed—though this was hastily,  他还提出增加在个体国民保险税，虽然这很匆忙，

　　and embarrassingly, withdrawn⁵ after an outcry from newspapers and Tory backbenchers. 也令人尴尬，但在报社和保守党后座议员的强烈抗议后就撤回了。

　　In all, following recent revisions to official economic forecasts, it is now expected that in 2018-19 the tax burden, expressed as a percentage of GDP, will be at its highest level since the mid-1980s. 总之，随着最近对官方经济预测的修订，现在预计在2018年-2019年度税负，用GDP的百分比表示，将达到自上世纪80年代中期以来的最高水平。

　　Mrs May's “instinct” may well be to lower taxes, but she cannot help being bound by Britain's unforgiving fiscal⁶ arithmetic. 梅的“本能”可能是降低税收，但她不得不被英国无情的财政预算约束。

1 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

2 compensated   

补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）

参考例句：

• The marvelous acting compensated for the play's weak script. 本剧的精彩表演弥补了剧本的不足。
• I compensated his loss with money. 我赔偿他经济损失。

3 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。

4 dividend   

n.红利，股息；回报，效益

参考例句：

• The company was forced to pass its dividend.该公司被迫到期不分红。
• The first quarter dividend has been increased by nearly 4 per cent.第一季度的股息增长了近 4%。

5 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

6 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。