关注社会:奥巴马增税计划瞄准富人

President Barack Obama has sharpened divisions with his Republican rivals ahead of this year's presidential election, with a 2013 budget proposal that more than doubles tax on the dividend incomes of high earners.

美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)与其共和党对手之间的分歧进一步加大，在今年的总统大选开始之前，他在2013年预算预案中提出，将对高收入者的股息所得征收比以往高出逾一倍的税率。

Mr Obama's budget lifts the levy on dividends from 15 per cent to the top marginal rate, which will stand at 39.6 per cent in 2013 if all of the tax cuts introduced by George W. Bush expire as scheduled.

如果乔治•布什(George W. Bush)时期推出的所有减税政策按计划到期，按照奥巴马提出的预算，2013年时，股息收入所需缴纳的税率，将从15%升至最高边际税率39.6%。

The plan to tax dividends as ordinary income applies to individuals earning more than $200,000 or married couples who take in over $250,000. The budget proposes lifting the capital gains tax rate from 15 to 20 per cent. The proposal amplifies the White House's intensifying policy pitch that the wealthy should pay higher taxes to reduce the ballooning federal deficit, an approach Republicans have called "class warfare".

该计划将对股息收入和普通收入实行同等的征税标准，适用于收入超过20万美元的个人，或是总收入超过25万美元的夫妇。上述预算提出将资本所得税率由15%增至20%。这一预案凸显出白宫日益强化的政策观点：富人应缴纳更高的税率，以减少不断膨胀的联邦赤字——共和党人将这种方式称为“阶级斗争”。

With little chance of passing Congress, Mr Obama's budget proposal is a political document that sets forth the fiscal platform he will campaign on ahead of the November election.

虽然奥巴马的预算预案在国会获得通过的几率很小，但它却是一份政治宣言，表明在11月份的美国大选前，奥巴马将在竞选过程中施行怎样的财政纲领。

The budget also includes extra spending on education and infrastructure, which the president plans to pay for with additional higher taxes on the energy industry, mutual funds and also estates. It contains no new plans to tackle long-term drivers of the US deficit, most notably Medicare, which covers medical treatment for the elderly, and Medicaid for the poor.

上述预算还包括将加大对教育和基础设施的投入，奥巴马计划通过对能源行业、共同基金以及房地产行业增税，来支付这部分开支。针对引发美国赤字的长期性因素（最为显而易见的是老年医保(Medicare)和医疗补助(Medicaid)项目，二者分别为老年人口和贫困人群提供医疗服务），预算没有提出新的计划。

The budget reiterates the White House's underlying principle for personal tax reform, the so-called "Buffett rule", after investor Warren Buffett, that anyone with annual income of $1m or more should pay a minimum 30 per cent in tax.

该预算重申了白宫在个人纳税改革（即所谓的“巴菲特规则”，以投资家沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)命名）问题上的根本原则：年收入达到或超过100万美元的个人，应至少缴纳30%的税率。

译者:薛磊