奥巴马拟对美企业海外利润征税
President Barack Obama will propose raising $238bn by levying a one-off tax on the cash piles held by US companies overseas to repair the US’s crumbling roads and bridges.
美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)将提议对美国企业留存在海外的高额现金一次性征税，以取得2380亿美元收入用于修复国内正在损坏的道路和桥梁。The measure, a key plank of the US president’s budget to be outlined on Monday, would impose a 14 per cent “transition” tax on the estimated $2tn in earnings US companies have amassed overseas, the White House said on Sunday.
白宫上周日表示，此举是这位美国总统将在周一概要提出的预算案的一个关键部分，将对美国企业在海外积累的约2万亿美元利润征收14%的“过境”税。
The proposed tax is less than half the top corporate tax rate in the US, which stands at 35 per cent and which critics claim gives incentives to American companies to hoard earnings abroad instead of investing them at home.
提议的一次性税不及美国国内企业税率的一半。批评者声称，美国国内企业的税率达35%，令美国企业有动机把海外利润留在海外，而不是投资于国内。
The proposal is likely to attract opposition, and would mean a significant tax rise for companies, particularly in the technology and pharmaceuticals sectors that have been shifting profits to low-tax countries such as Ireland and Bermuda.
奥巴马的提议可能会招致反对，它将意味着美国企业、尤其是科技与制药企业税收水平的大幅上升。这两类企业一直把利润转移到爱尔兰和百慕大等低税制国家。Mr Obama will also propose a 19 per cent tax on future foreign earnings, giving companies a credit on foreign taxes and allowing them to be reinvested in the US with no additional penalty. Under the current system, US companies pay little or no tax on their earnings abroad until they are brought back into the US.
奥巴马还将提议未来对美国企业的海外利润征税19%，使它们享受外国税收抵免，并允许它们将海外利润再投资于美国，而不再承受其他惩罚。在当前税制下，美国企业的海外利润只要不带回国内，便基本或者完全不必缴税。The money raised would be used to fund about half of an ambitious six-year programme of highway, bridge and transit upgrades, one of the president’s main priorities during his final two years in office and an initiative that has attracted some degree of bipartisan support. The remainder of the programme would be financed by the existing highway fund.
这笔税收收入将用于满足一项雄心勃勃、为期6年的公路、桥梁和运输系统升级项目的半数资金要求——该项目是奥巴马最后两年任期内的主要任务之一，在一定程度上吸引了两党的支持。项目其余资金将来自现行的公路基金。
