VOA慢速英语2012 Economics Report - ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ Say Their Taxes Are Too Low（在线收听）

Economics Report - ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ Say Their Taxes Are Too Low

经济报道 - 美国“爱国富豪”呼吁对自己增税

From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

Congressional leaders and the Obama administration have begun budget negotiations. They are trying to avoid what is being called “the fiscal cliff,” a combination of tax increases and budget cuts that many experts worry could harm the economy.

美国国会领导人和奥巴马政府已经开始预算谈判。他们正试图避免所谓的“财政悬崖”，许多专家担心这一增加税收和削减预算相结合的举措可能会损害经济。

However, a group of rich Americans has formed to try to influence those negotiations. More than twenty of them travelled to Washington recently to call on lawmakers to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

然而，一个美国富人团体已经形成并试图影响这些谈判，他们中有22人以上最近前往华盛顿呼吁国会议员对美国超级富豪增税。

The group calls itself “Patriotic Millionaires.” Members of the group have incomes of at least one million dollars a year. Their message is simple: “tax us more -- we can take it.”

这个团体称自己是“爱国百万富翁”，其成员每年的收入至少有一百万美元。他们的话很简单：“对我们加税吧，我们可以。”

They are worried about the growing gap between the upper- and middle-classes in the United States.

他们担心美国上层阶级和中产阶级之间的差距越来越大。

The group supports President Obama’s plan to raise taxes on rich Americans as part of a budget agreement to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” If an agreement is not reached by the end of this year, taxes will go up for most Americans, and federal spending will go down sharply. President Obama says the country can avoid that if Republicans agree to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

该团体支持奥巴马将对美国富人增税的方案作为预算协议的一部分，以避免财政悬崖。如果到今年年底不能达成协议，所有美国人的税收都会提高，同时联邦开支将大幅下降。奥巴马总统说，如果共和党人同意对美国超级富豪增税，问题就能避免。

“When it comes to the top two percent, what I’m not going to do is to extend further a tax cut for folks who don’t need it, which would cost close to a trillion dollars.”

“我不会对最顶层的2%的人进一步扩大减税，他们并不需要这接近1万亿美元的减税。”

But the Speaker of the House of Representatives -- John Boehner, a Republican -- says taxes for wealthy Americans do not have to go up.

但共和党人、众议院议长约翰·博纳（John Boehner）表示，对富人的税收无需提高。 

“I have outlined a framework for how both parties can work together to avert the fiscal cliff without raising tax rates.”

“我已经提出了一个框架，让两党在不提高税率的情况下共同努力避免财政悬崖。

The Patriotic Millionaires believe their taxes need to be raised. They also do not agree with the idea that increasing taxes on those who create jobs means fewer jobs will be created. T.J. Zlotnitsky is the head of iControl Systems, a data management company.

爱国百万富翁认为他们的税收需要提高。他们还不赞同对创造就业者增税意味着就业岗位会减少的说法。T.J. Zlotnitsky是一家数据管理公司iControl Systems的负责人。

“When I make a decision about whether or not I’m going to hire people to help grow my business, I make those decisions strictly on the basis of whether the company needs them, whether the customers demand them, whether doing so would grow the business. In terms of my own personal tax rates, that never factors in.”

“当我决定是否雇佣人来帮助发展我的业务时，我是基于公司是否需要，客户是否需要，这样做是否可以发展该业务来做出决定。我自己的个人所得税税率从来不是考虑因素。”

The group says increasing taxes on middle-class Americans -- but not on rich Americans -- would be bad for the economy. Frank Patitucci is the chief of NuCompass Mobility.

该团体表示，对美国中产阶级而不是富人增税会对经济不利。Frank Patitucci是NuCompass移动公司负责人。

“It is especially important about the middle class. If you lose the middle class, you’re losing customers. So a strong middle class that’s helped by a fair tax system leads to long-term to a healthy economy.”

“中产阶级特别重要。如果失去中产阶级就失去了客户。因此一个受益于公平税收制度的强大的中产阶级能够带来长期的健康经济。”

Patriotic Millionaires has more than two hundred members across the country. Members of the group work in finance, entertainment, technology and other areas.

爱国百万富翁在全国各地拥有2百多名成员，他们从事金融、娱乐、科技和其他领域。