中國(guó)網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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U.S. President Barack Obama makes a point during remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's awards gala in Washington, September 14, 2011.(Agencies) |
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President Barack Obama, in a populist gesture designed to appeal to voters, will propose a "Buffett Tax" on people making more than $1 million a year as part of his deficit recommendations to Congress on Monday. Such a proposal, among suggestions to a congressional Super Committee expected to seek up to $3 trillion in deficit savings over 10 years, would appeal to his Democratic base ahead of the 2012 election but likely not raise much in revenues. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a tweet on Saturday the tax would act as "a kind of AMT" (Alternative Minimum Tax) aimed at ensuring millionaires pay at least as much tax as middle-class families. The "Buffett Tax" refers to billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who wrote earlier this year that rich people like him often pay less in tax than those who work for them due to loopholes in the taxcode, and can afford to pay more. Obama will lay out his recommendations in White House Rose Garden remarks at 10.30 am on Monday and is expected to urge steps to raise tax revenue as well as cuts in spending. But Congress is at liberty to ignore his suggestions and Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, have said that they will not agree to tax hikes. The super committee of six Democrat and six Republican lawmakers must find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings before the end of the year to avoid painful automatic cuts, and is mandated to seek savings of up to $1.5 trillion. These savings are on top of $917 billion in deficit reduction agreed in an August deal to raise the debt limit and Obama wants it to go further. He has separately urged it to consider $450 billion in tax increases on top of this goal to pay for a jobs bill that he unveiled earlier this month. The Buffett Tax could help energize Obama's base by highlighting a feature of the tax code that allows the super rich to pay lower rates of tax than less wealthy Americans because the bulk of their income is capital gains, dividends and the 'carried interest' earnings of hedge fund managers. This is taxed at 15 percent, compared to rates of 10 to 35 percent on straightforward income. (Read by Christine Mallari. Christine Mallari is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies)
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美國(guó)總統(tǒng)貝拉克?奧巴馬將于本周一向國(guó)會(huì)提出減赤計(jì)劃，其中建議向年收入超過百萬美元的富人征收“巴菲特稅”。奧巴馬一向以平民姿態(tài)現(xiàn)身，以博得選民喜愛。 此項(xiàng)建議將連同其它提議一起提交給國(guó)會(huì)“特別委員會(huì)”，目的是實(shí)現(xiàn)未來十年內(nèi)減赤3萬億美元的目標(biāo)。這在2012年總統(tǒng)大選前對(duì)奧巴馬所在的民主黨陣營(yíng)很有吸引力，但對(duì)增加稅收效果有限。 白宮新聞主任丹?普費(fèi)弗上周六在推特上說，這項(xiàng)稅收將成為一種“最少可選擇性稅”（AMT），旨在確保富豪所納稅款不少于中產(chǎn)階級(jí)家庭。 “巴菲特稅”來源于億萬富豪、投資大亨沃倫?巴菲特。他在前段時(shí)間發(fā)文指出，由于稅法有漏洞，像他這樣的富豪比自己的員工所繳納的稅款還要少，而他們本可以繳納更多。 奧巴馬總統(tǒng)將于本周一上午十點(diǎn)半在白宮玫瑰園提出這些建議，人們估計(jì)他在敦促增稅的同時(shí)，還將建議削減支出。 但白宮有權(quán)不予采納，而且掌控眾議院的共和黨人已經(jīng)表態(tài)，將否決增稅計(jì)劃。 “特別委員會(huì)”包括六名民主黨人和六名共和黨人，他們必須在年底前就減赤1.2萬億美元達(dá)成協(xié)議，否則將引發(fā)惱人的自動(dòng)削減機(jī)制。而該委員會(huì)的任務(wù)是減赤1.5萬億。 此外，今年八月，美國(guó)兩黨達(dá)成削減9170億美元支出的協(xié)議，以提高債務(wù)上限，奧巴馬總統(tǒng)希望可以進(jìn)一步增收。 奧巴馬在本月早些時(shí)候還提出增稅4500億美元來實(shí)行就業(yè)刺激方案，并敦促國(guó)會(huì)盡快通過。 “巴菲特稅”指出，根據(jù)現(xiàn)有稅法，超級(jí)富豪比美國(guó)中產(chǎn)階級(jí)所繳納的稅率更低，因?yàn)樗麄兊拇蟛糠质杖胧琴Y本收益、紅利、以及對(duì)沖基金經(jīng)理的“附帶權(quán)益”所得。提出征收“巴菲特稅”能為奧巴馬陣營(yíng)加油打氣。 以上收入的征稅比例為15%，而直接收入的征稅比例為10%至35%。 相關(guān)閱讀 （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 Julie 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: populist: a supporter of the rights and power of the people（平民主義者，平民論者） loophole: an ambiguity, omission, etc., as in a law, by which one can avoid a penalty or responsibility（法律等的漏洞） at liberty: unconfined; free（自由，有權(quán)做某事） on top of：in addition to; besides（另外，除…之外） the bulk of: 大半，大多數(shù) |
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