美国国家公共电台 NPR 七国集团就全球最低企业税率达成一致（在线收听）

The U.S. and six other wealthy countries are taking a big step towards raising taxes on multinational corporations.

美国和其他六个富裕国家正在向对跨国公司增税迈出重大一步。

Finance ministers from the G-7 countries agreed over the weekend that corporations should pay a minimum tax rate of 15% no matter where they're located.

七国集团（简称G7）的财政部长在周末一致认为，无论公司位于何处，都应缴纳15%的最低税率。

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calls that a historic achievement.

美国财政部长珍妮特·耶伦称这是一项历史性成就。

For too long, there has been a global race-to-the-bottom in corporate taxes,

太久以来，企业税一直在全球范围内逐底竞争，

where countries compete by lowering their tax rates instead of the well-being of their citizens and natural environments.

各国通过降低税率来竞争，而不是在本国公民的福祉和自然环境方面展开竞争。

Yellen and her colleagues also agreed to a higher tax on the most profitable international companies, including U.S. tech giants. But this is far from a done deal.

耶伦及其同事也同意对美国科技巨头等盈利最多的跨国公司征收更高的税收。但现在距离达成协议还有很远的路要走。

NPR's Scott Horsley is here to tell us more. Hey, Scott.

NPR新闻的斯科特·霍斯利将带来详细报道。你好，斯科特。

Hi, Mary Louise.

你好，玛丽·路易丝。

So what's the significance of this, of a global minimum tax on corporations?

设定全球最低企业税率有何意义？

Corporations' share of the overall tax burden around the world has been on the wane for years now.

企业税收在全球税收负担中所占的份额多年来一直在下降。

And it's been hard for politicians to push back because whenever they try to raise corporate taxes,

政治家很难反击，因为每当他们试图提高企业税时，

companies can take their money, perhaps their jobs, and move somewhere cheaper.

企业就会带走资金或就业岗位，迁址到更便宜的地方。

Steve Rosenthal, who's with the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center,

史蒂夫·罗森塔尔来自无党派组织税收政策中心，

says the Biden administration wants to diffuse that threat by getting other countries to set a floor on corporate taxes and agree not to go below that.

他表示，拜登政府希望消除这种威胁，方法是让其他国家对企业税设定下限，并同意税率不会低于这一下限。

Over the last few decades, one country after another dropped its tax rates on corporations with the hope of enticing more business.

过去数十年，一个国家接一个国家地降低企业税率，希望这样能吸引更多企业。

Biden would like to reverse that, but that only can be effective to the extent that the U.S. doesn't face competition from abroad.

拜登希望扭转这种局面，但这只有在美国不面临来自国外竞争的情况下才有效。

So this agreement, if it comes to pass, would be a big deal. It would make it easier for President Biden to raise corporate taxes.

如果协议获得通过，就会成为一件大事。这将使拜登总统更容易提高企业税。

And right now corporations pay a much smaller share of the total tax bill in the U.S. than they do in most of our foreign competitors.

现在，企业税收在美国税收总额中所占的比例要比在我们大多数外国竞争对手中所占的比例要小得多。

Let me push you on the if-it-comes-to-pass portion of what you just told us. It's not a done deal. What else has to happen?

请你解释一下刚才所说的“如果协议获得通过”是什么意思。还有什么事要发生？

That's right. So far, you have buy-in from seven countries. That's a big step, but that doesn't include China. It doesn't include India.

好。截至目前，七个国家已达成一致。这是重要的一步，但这些国家中不包括中国。也不包括印度。

It doesn't include tax havens like Ireland, which has a corporate tax rate of just 12.5%.

也没有爱尔兰这样的避税天堂，爱尔兰的企业税率只有12.5%。

Now, Secretary Yellen says you don't necessarily need to get all those countries on board, but you do need more than just the seven that have agreed so far.

耶伦部长表示，不必让所有这些国家都参与进来，但目前只有七个国家达成一致意见并不够。

So the next step will be to raise this tax plan with a group of 20 countries that are set to meet next month.

因此，下一步将是与二十国集团一起提高这个税收计划，这些国家将于下个月举行会议。

This effort is far from over, and we look forward to engaging closely with the G-20.

这项努力远未结束，我们期待与二十国集团（简称G20）密切接触。

At the same time, I look forward to taking the momentum we have achieved and working closely with members of Congress on this important initiative.

同时，我期待保持我们已取得的势头，就这一重要倡议与国会成员密切合作。

And, of course, Mary Louise, it's Congress that would actually set tax policy for the U.S.

当然，玛丽·路易丝，美国负责制定税收政策的是国会。

That could be a tough sell for the administration as well, given Republicans' opposition to higher taxes and the Democrats' razor-thin majorities in Congress.

但鉴于共和党反对提高税收，而且民主党在国会中只占微弱多数席位，这对政府来说可能很难推行。

Indeed. Well, let me turn to the other piece of this.

的确。下面我想谈谈这另一件事。

Part of this G-7 deal seems designed to prevent another trade war, a war over digital taxes. Explain that.

这项七国集团协议的部分内容似乎旨在防止另一场贸易战，一场关于数字税的战争。请解释一下。

That's right. Big tech companies like Facebook and Amazon have billions of customers around the world. They're making a lot of money around the world.

没错。脸谱网和亚马逊等大型科技公司在全球拥有数十亿客户。这些公司在世界各地都赚了很多钱。

And a number of countries, mostly in Europe, want a slice of those profits, so some of those countries have been threatening to levy taxes on big digital companies.

而一些国家，大部分是欧洲国家，希望从中获得一部分利润，因此，其中有些国家一直威胁要对大型数字公司征税。

And the U.S. says, wait a minute; that's not fair because all the companies that would be targeted by such attacks just happen to be located in the United States.

美国则表示，等一下；这不公平，因为所有这些攻击针对的公司都恰好位于美国。

Yeah.

是的。

The Biden administration, like the Trump administration before it, threatened to retaliate with additional tariffs on those other countries' exports.

拜登政府采取了和之前的特朗普政府同样的做法，即威胁要对其他国家的出口产品加征关税进行报复。

So what the G-7 agreed to do instead is impose a broader tax, not just on tech companies but any of the most profitable multinationals,

因此，七国集团同意的是，不仅对技术公司，也要对所有盈利最为丰厚的跨国公司征收更广泛的税收，

and then distribute the proceeds to all the countries where those companies do business.

之后将所得分配给这些公司经营业务的所有国家。

Once again, this part of the deal would need buy-in from a lot more countries and from Congress, but it might prevent another trade war.

这一部分协议也需要得到更多国家和国会的认可，但这可能会阻止另一场贸易战。

A Facebook vice president called it a significant step and said the company wants the reform method to succeed, even if it means Facebook winds up paying more.

一名脸谱网副总裁称这是重要举措，并表示，公司希望改革方法取得成功，即使这意味着脸谱网最终要支付更多税收。

Thank you, Scott.

谢谢你，斯科特。

You're welcome.

不客气。

NPR's Scott Horsley — and Facebook, by the way, provides financial support to NPR.

以上是NPR新闻的斯科特·霍斯利带来的报道，顺便说一下，脸谱网为NPR新闻提供财政支持。