2020年经济学人公司税——数位落差(1)（打印版）

When G20 finance ministers meet on July 18th and 19th, avoiding a new trade war will be high on the agenda.

当G20财政部长于7月18日和19日会面时，避免一场新的贸易战争将成为议程上的重要议题。

Cash-strapped governments around the world are planning to whack taxes on online services.

手头拮据的世界各国政府正计划对在线服务征税。

But America regards these as a grab for its companies' profits, and is considering retaliation against ten digital-tax proposals.

但美国认为这是对其公司利润的抢夺，并考虑对十项数字税提案进行报复。

On July 10th it said it would respond to France's tax by hitting French handbags, lipstick and soap with tariffs of 25%.

7月10日，其表示将对法国征税做出回应，向法国手袋、口红以及香皂征收25%的关税。

Unless a truce is struck, the tariffs will go into effect in January.

除非达成休战协议，否则这些关税将在明年一月份生效。

The root cause of the dispute is a flaw in the international tax system. In order to avoid taxing businesses twice,

这场纷争的根源是国际税收体系中的一个缺陷。为了避免对企业二次征税，

governments typically apply the corporate tax to firms that are legally domiciled on their shores or have a local physical base,

政府通常向在本国境内合法注册或在当地有实体基础的公司征收公司税，

and link the amount due to the location of their assets and production.

并根据他们资产的所在地以及生产勾定税额。

But now many companies provide online services and can shift intellectual property to low-tax regimes with the click of a button.

但现在很多公司都提供在线服务，并且点击一下按钮就可以将知识产权转移至低税收制度的国家。

A system intended to stop profits being taxed too much allows them to be taxed too little.

一个意在阻止对利润过度征税的体系，却让他们被征收过少的税。

In 2017 40% of profits made by multinational firms outside their home country were shifted to tax havens,

丹麦税务部的Thomas Torslov，以及加州大学伯克利分校的Ludvig Wier和Gabriel Zucman认为，

reckon Thomas Torslov, now at the Danish Ministry of Taxation, and Ludvig Wier and Gabriel Zucman of the University of California, Berkeley.

在2017年，投资国以外的跨国公司所得利润的40%被转移至了避税地。

That meant more than $200bn in forgone tax revenue, equivalent to 10% of global corporate-tax receipts.

这意味着放弃了超过2000亿美元的税收收入，相当于全球企业税收收入的10%。

This is a relatively small amount: by comparison, governments worldwide have unleashed stimulus of $5.4trn in response to covid-19.

这是一个相对较小的数目：相比之下，为应对covid-19，世界各国政府已经放出了5.4万亿美元的刺激资金。

But it is symbolically important and rightly irks taxpayers, who must fill the hole.

但这有重要的象征意义，也理所当然地惹恼了纳税人，因为他们必须填补这个漏洞。

For several years now, the OECD, a club of rich countries, has convened governments in the hope of plugging the tax leaks.

几年来，富国俱乐部——经济合作与发展组织（OECD）召集各国政府，希望堵住税收漏洞。

The idea is that the G20 meeting lays the groundwork so that the OECD's summit, planned for October, yields results.

他们想先在G20会议上奠定基础，以便在10月举行的OECD峰会上得到结果。