中国金融介绍---国际财政会协会演讲

By the Paymaster General, UK

英国主计长

(Continued from Unit 4)

续第四单元

One approach is for countries to introduce anti-avoidance legislation to counter the use by their residents of overseas discriminatory regimes. For example, the UK, like some others, has Controlled Foreign Company legislation. Greater transparency and exchange of information will assist countries in developing appropriate anti-avoidance measures. But this kind of approach does not offer a complete solution.

一个方法是各国介绍反避税立法以对付海外歧视团体，如英国的有限外国公司立法。信息的大量透明和交换能够帮助各国制定合适的反避税措施，但这种方法并不是万能的。

The Government therefore supports steps by the international community to promote the rollback of anti-competitive discriminatory practices and attaches great importance to the work of the OECD and the EU in this area.

因此政府支持国际协会促进收回有碍竞争的歧视性做法，并及其看重经济合作与发展组织和欧盟在这方面的做法。

We fully support the OECD's work in the Forum on Harmful Tax Competition which has identified 47 measures in member countries as potentially harmful. In addition we continue to actively support the work on the EU Code of Conduct6 on business taxation as part of the tax package. In November 1999, the Code of Conduct Group, which I chair, reported to ECOFIN on its assessment of 271 measures, 66 of which it had found to be harmful.

我们全力支持经济合作与发展组织在有害税务竞争论坛上的工作，它为成员国确定了47项潜在有害的措施。另外，我们继续积极支持欧盟行为准则关于将商业税收作为税收篮子一部分的做法。1999年11月，我主持的行为小组准则报导了经济金融委员会评估的271项措施，其中有66项是有害的。

The Government firmly believes that the rollback of such discriminatory practices, coupled with greater transparency and exchange of information, are the necessary preconditions for strong and fair competition which in turn will release the dynamic forces in the economy.

政府坚信这种歧视做法的收回和大量信息的透明与转换时有力公平竞争的先决条件，反过来也会减轻经济的动力。

But simply acting to curb anti-competitive practices will not be enough. In a world of open markets and massive coital flows, no country or group of countries can afford to operate as if insulated from what the rest of the world does and ignore fair lax competition and the need to remain competitive.

但仅仅控制有碍竞争的做法的是不够的。在开放长和巨额资本流动的世界中，没有一个国家或多个国家能对外界发生的事情一无所知，忽略公平的税收竞争和保持竞争力的需求。

The UK is committed to ensuring that fair tax competition is allowed to flourish. And by competing fairly we intend to ensure that the UK has a highly competitive and efficient tax system that will support our long-term aim of achieving high and stable levels of growth and employment.

英国承诺要确保公平税收竞争的发展繁荣。要公平竞争我们就要确保英国的税收系统有竞争力，有效，能够支持我们长期达成高稳定水平的增长和就业目标。

The UK has long been a hub for global business. There are many factors that make the UK particularly attractive and the natural location for business, including our sophisticated financial markets, our strong trading links with all parts of the world and the status of English as the global language of business.

英国长期以来是全球经济的中心，能够成为如此吸引商业的天然位置是有几个原因的，包括我们悠久的经济市场，与世界其他地方紧密的贸易关系还有全球商业官方语言的英语地位。

The tax system must complement these attractions. It must not stifle business but should empower it to compete in a global marketplace. The system we inherited in 1997 needed urgent reform to meet our objectives. We have therefore embarked on a series of reforms to enhance both competitiveness and fairness, to build a system that will better respond to the changing needs of business and that will provide a stable framework into the medium term.

税收系统必须做到这些吸引力，要增强而不是扼杀商业在全球市场上的竞争力。我们沿用的1997年的系统需要改革以满足我们的目标，因此我们推行了一系列的改革加强竞争性和公平性，建立一个能更好反映商业需求变化并未中期提供稳定框架的系统。

We have cut the main rate of corporation tax from 33% to 30%, the lowest ever rate. Outdated elements of the tax system have been swept away. We abolished Advance Corporation Tax (ACT) which affected the structure and investment decisions of many multinationals. And we also abolished payable tax credits on dividends, removing a distortion that encouraged companies to pay out dividends rather than to retain them for investment.

我们已经将公司的主要税收率从33%降至30%，达到历史最低。税收体系过时的元素也被剔除了，我们取消了影响很多跨国公司做规划投资决策的预交公司税，还取消了股息税，鼓励公司支付股息而不是留作投资。

We have tackled the issue of withholding taxes. These can impose a high burden on business, often resulting in one company withholding and another reclaiming tax. Where we have been able to conclude that these rules are unnecessary, such as for intra-UK corporate interest payments, Eurobonds and gilts, we have abolished them.

我们处理了暂扣税收的问题，这个问题给企业带来很大压力，经常导致一家公司暂扣税款而另一家公司要求退税。当我们确定以下规则不必要时，如英国国内公司利息支付，欧盟证券，金边证券，我们就统统取消了。