新西兰英语 527 Balancing the books

 　　What does this mean? The “books” means the budget or the money that we earn and spend. If we balance the books we have enough money coming in to pay for what we spend. The same happens with our government. However, at the moment New Zealand has a very large debt and has to borrow money to pay the debt. The government spends about $300m a week to pay interest on the money which is borrowed.

　　The National Party says that it can balance the books by selling some state assets². They are AirNZ (the government owns 80% of this company now) and four energy companies owned 100% by the government. These are Solid Energy which sells coal, and three electricity companies. However, the National Party plans to sell only 49% of the shares and keep 51%. These sales could bring in between $5bn and $7bn but the government would lose about $300m in dividends³ from those companies each year.

　　The Labour Party on the other hand says it can balance the books by increasing the tax on rich people and by bringing in a Capital Gains tax. “Gains” is another word for an increase. If you buy shares or a company or flats for renting you put your capital (your money) into these investments. Then if you sell them later and make a profit, the Labour Party thinks you should pay tax on that profit. The Labour Party says this is fair because workers pay tax on the money they earn.

　　Both the National Party and the Labour Party think they can balance the books in three years.

　　For more on State Asset¹ sales and Capital Gains tax listen to July 14 2011.

　　Vocabulary

　　Make sure you know these words concerning finance⁴:

　　balance, the budget, debt, interest on debt, assets, state assets, shares, dividends, investments, profit, capital

　　Questions

　　In one recent poll⁵, 68% of New Zealanders said they did not want the government to sell state assets; however, when we vote for a party, we consider many things not just one thing. What do you think are the most important things in an election – jobs, tax, education, health, the economy, personalities⁶ or something else?

　　Why does the National Party plan to keep 51% of the shares in state assets?

1 asset   

n.有价值的资源，优点，长处；财产，资产

参考例句：

• Ability to get along with people is an asset in business.在商业界善跟别人相处是可贵的优点。
• Intelligence was her main asset.智力是她的主要财富。

2 assets   

n.财产；资产

参考例句：

• We capitalized our assets to avoid bankruptcy.我们把资产转作资金以避免破产。

3 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

4 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

5 poll   

n.民意测验，民意调查，选举投票

参考例句：

• The result of the poll won't be known until midnight.选举结果要到午夜才能揭晓。
• They expected a heavy poll.他们期望会有很高的投票数。

6 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。