《紐約時報》起底特朗普稅務史：當了總統還在中飽私囊？
Trump Is a Bad Businessman. Is He a Tax Cheat, Too?
特朗普是個壞商人。他同時也是個稅務騙子嗎？
來源：《紐約時報》 翻譯：世界播
The latest bombshell Times story on the president』s tax history confirms what we already suspected: Donald Trump is a terrible businessman. Despite inheriting more than $400 million and being bailed out by his father at critical junctures, he managed to lose of more than $1 billion over a decade.
《紐約時報》關於總統稅務史的最新爆炸性新聞證實了我們此前的猜測：唐納德?特朗普是一個糟糕的商人。儘管他繼承了4億多美元的遺產，並在關鍵時刻得到了其父的救助，但在過去10年里，他還是損失了逾10億美元。
The latest story also shows how we do a terrible job of adequately taxing the wealthy. The 400 richest Americans often pay tax at lower rates than the middle class because so much income from wealth is taxed at low or zero rates.
最新的事態發展還表明，我們國家在向富人充分徵稅方面做得很糟糕。400名最富有的美國人通常比中產階級繳納的稅率更低，因為擁有如此巨額財富的人卻是以低稅率或零稅率來納稅的。
But perhaps most important, the story reinforces the need for a congressional investigation of the president』s tax returns.
但或許最重要的是，這件事強化了國會對總統納稅申報單進行調查的必要性。
President Trump is not just a run-of-the-mill multimillionaire, paying taxes at a low rate. As the Times has documented, there is ample evidence that his father』s estate — of which he was the executor — engaged in tax evasion and outright fraud, failing to pay about $500 million in estate taxes.
特朗普總統不僅僅只是一個以低稅率納稅的普通億萬富翁。正如《紐約時報》此前曾報道過的那樣，有充分的證據表明，特朗普還存在逃稅和徹頭徹尾的欺詐行為，根據美國法律，作為遺囑執行人的他需要對他父親的遺產繳納大約5億美元的遺產稅，但他並未繳納。
Other reports have documented numerous instances where Mr. Trump has taken sketchy or unlawful tax positions. His former attorney Michael Cohen effectively suggested during his congressional testimony that Mr. Trump engaged in tax fraud and insurance fraud.
其他報道披露了特朗普採取粗略或非法稅收立場的無數例子。他的前律師邁克爾?科恩在國會作證時實際上暗示，特朗普參與了稅務欺詐和保險欺詐。
The president claims that all his relevant tax returns have been audited or are under audit now. But even if true, this provides little comfort. The I.R.S. is so under-resourced that even when it does audit high-wealth individuals, it may miss violations of the law, or worse. Fred Trump』s estate is a case in point.
總統聲稱，他所有相關的納稅申報單都經過了審計，或者正在接受審計。但即使這是真的，也不會帶來多少安慰。國稅局的實力是如此不足，以至於即使它對高財富個人進行審計，也可能會漏掉某些違法行為，甚至更糟。弗雷德?特朗普的遺產就是一個很好的例子。
President Trump also is not a run-of-the-mill wealthy man because he is, well, the president of the United States. He has vast power and influence. There is ample reason to fear that conflicts of interest have infected his approach to tax policy.
特朗普也不是一名普通的富人，他還有一個身份，那就是美國的總統。他擁有巨大的權力和影響力。我們有充足的理由擔心，利益衝突已經影響了他的稅收政策。
When campaigning, Mr. Trump promised to close tax loopholes based on his expert knowledge of them. But instead, the 2017 tax bill seemed designed to lower taxes on him and his family through special carve-outs.
在競選時，特朗普承諾，將根據他對稅收漏洞的專業知識，堵塞這些漏洞。但相反，2017年的稅收法案似乎旨在通過特殊的分拆來降低他和他家庭成員的稅收。
The bill lowered the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. But it was far more generous to the wealthy who, like the president, structure their businesses to pay tax on a so-called pass-through basis. They gained a whopping 20 percent deduction on their income.
該法案將最高稅率從39.6%降至37%。但對於像總統這樣的富人來說，這可慷慨多了，因為他們的企業是按照所謂的「轉嫁」原則通過價格的調整和變動來納稅的。這也使得他們的稅負獲得了驚人的20%的扣減。
While the bill placed limits on wealthy taxpayers claiming this deduction, there was a special carve-out for real estate — the main source of Mr. Trump』s wealth. As a result, the bill cut the top rate on people who, like the president, own pass-through businesses in the real estate industry all the way to 29.5 percent.
儘管該法案對要求扣除這部分稅款的富裕納稅人設置了限制，但對房地產——特朗普財富的主要來源——有一項特殊的分拆。因此，該法案將像總統這樣擁有房地產行業中「過渡法人企業」（即納稅人對營業收入繳個人所得稅）的人的最高稅率一路下調至29.5%。
And that』s just the start. The 2017 bill also repealed the 「like-kind exchange」 rule for all property except, you guessed it, real estate. This rule allows the wealthy to indefinitely defer paying tax on capital gains when they change their investment portfolio but do not liquidate.
這僅僅是個開始。2017年的法案還廢除了除房地產以外的所有房地產的「同類交易」規則。這條規則允許富人在改變投資組合但不清算資產時無限期推遲繳納資本利得稅。
One positive feature of the 2017 tax law was a new limit on the deductibility of interest payments, which helps reduce the tax bias in favor of debt-financed investment. One might assume that Mr. Trump, as the self-proclaimed 「king of debt,」 would be hurt financially by such a limit. But in another happy twist for the Trump family, real estate developers can elect out of the limitation entirely.
2017年稅法的一個積極特點是，對利息支付的可抵扣性作出了新的限制，這有助於減少有利於債務融資投資的稅收偏見。有人可能會認為，自封為「債務之王」的特朗普會因為這樣的限制而在財務上受到傷害。但對特朗普家族來說，另一個可喜的轉折是，房地產開發商可以完全不受限制地進行選擇。
Subsequent Treasury regulations have also been great news for real estate developers. For example, the bill』s Opportunity Zone provision dramatically reduces or eliminates capital gains taxes due on funds invested in designated areas. According to the president, his daughter Ivanka pushed very hard for this provision. But while purportedly designed to stimulate investment in poor areas, these regulations inexplicably gutted some provisions restricting the tax perk to new business activity. These generous tax breaks are now going to the toniest neighborhoods in some cities and prime beachfront property in New Jersey, benefiting Mr. Trump』s son-in-law in the process.
隨後出台的財政部規定對房地產開發商來說也是好消息。例如，該法案的機會區條款大幅降低或取消了對投資於指定地區的資金徵收的資本利得稅。根據總統的說法，他的女兒伊萬卡非常努力地爭取這筆資金。然而，儘管這些規定據稱旨在刺激貧困地區的投資，但令人費解的是，它們取消了一些將稅收優惠限制在新商業活動中的條款。現在，這些慷慨的減稅措施將惠及一些城市最時髦的社區和新澤西州的主要海濱房產，在這個過程中，特朗普的女婿將從中受益。
All of this raises the question of whether the president steered the 2017 tax bill and subsequent regulations in directions that personally benefited him and his family. Moreover, because Mr. Trump is the only president for at least 40 years not to liquidate his business assets or put them in a blind trust, concerns about his financial conflicts of interest are uniquely heightened.
所有這些都提出了一個問題：總統是否把2017年的稅收法案和隨後的法規引向了對他本人和他家族有利的方向。此外，由於特朗普是至少40年來唯一一位沒有清算其商業資產或將其置於保密信託的總統，因此，人們對他的財務利益衝突的擔憂格外強烈。
TAG:世界播 |