紐時賞析／川普政府提供鉅富更多減稅優惠
美國總統川普。法新社
More Tax Breaks For the Wealthy
川普政府提供鉅富更多減稅優惠
With little public scrutiny, the Trump administration is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to some of the country’s most profitable companies and wealthiest investors.
在幾乎沒有受到外界審視的情況下，川普政府正向全美最賺錢的企業與最富有的投資人提供數千億美元的減稅優惠。
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, through a series of new notices and proposed regulations, are giving breaks to giant private equity firms, crypto companies, foreign real estate investors, insurance providers and a variety of multinational corporations.
美國財政部與國稅局透過一系列新公告與擬議規則，向大型私募基金、加密貨幣公司、海外不動產投資者、保險業者以及各類跨國企業提供減稅優惠。
The primary target: The administration is rapidly gutting a 2022 law intended to ensure that a sliver of the country’s most profitable corporations pay at least some federal income tax. The provision, the corporate alternative minimum tax, was passed by Democrats and signed into law by President Joe Biden. It sought to stop corporations like Microsoft, Amazon and Johnson & Johnson from being able to report big profits to shareholders yet low tax liabilities to the federal government. It was projected to raise $222 billion over a decade.
核心的問題在於：政府正迅速削弱2022年通過的一項法律，該法原本旨在確保最賺錢的一小部分企業至少要繳一些聯邦所得稅。這項被稱爲「企業替代性最低稅負」的條款由民主黨通過、拜登總統簽署成法。它的目的，是阻止微軟、亞馬遜、嬌生等企業一方面向股東報告高額獲利，另一方面卻向聯邦政府繳納極低的稅金。依估計，這項稅制10年內可替美國政府募集2220億美元。
But the succession of notices the Treasury and IRS have issued beginning this summer means the tax could bring in a fraction of that.
但自今夏以來，財政部與國稅局陸續發佈的公告，使得該稅制的實際進帳可能僅剩原先預估的一小部分。
These breaks come in addition to the roughly $4 trillion package of tax cuts that President Donald Trump signed into law in July. The legislation, passed entirely by Republicans, heavily benefits businesses and the ultrawealthy. It is projected to add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit and came with steep cuts to health care for the elderly and food stamps for the poorest Americans.
除了上述措施之外，川普7月簽署的一攬子減稅法案總額約4兆美元，這項完全由共和黨通過的立法大幅有利於企業與鉅富，預料將使聯邦赤字再增加數兆美元，並大幅削減年長者醫療與最貧困家庭的糧食補助。
With its various tax relief provisions, the administration is now effectively adding hundreds of billions of dollars in new breaks for big businesses and investors. The Treasury is empowered to write rules to help the IRS carry out tax laws passed by Congress. But the aggressive actions of the Trump administration raise questions about whether it is exceeding its legal authority.
藉由各式各樣的減稅措施，政府等於再額外提供數千億美元的稅務優惠給大型企業與投資人。財政部雖有權制定規則協助國稅局執行國會通過的稅法，但川普政府這些強勢行動，引發外界質疑其是否已超越法律授權範圍。
Trump and congressional Republicans have attacked federal workers as instruments of the “deep state,” exercising power beyond anything authorized by the law. Now the administration is doing the same thing, several tax experts said, undermining laws that hit the ultrawealthy and big companies.
川普與國會共和黨人常批評聯邦公務員是「深層政府」的工具，行使法律授權範圍以外的權力。但多名稅務專家指出，現在川普政府本身也在做同樣的事，削弱那些針對超富階層與大型企業所設計的法律。
文／Jesse Drucker，譯／江昱蓁
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