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经济速成班 第29课:税收

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Hi, I'm Adriene Hill. This is Crash Course Economics, and today we're gonna talk about taxes.

嗨,我是埃德因·希尔,欢迎来到经济速成班,我们今天要讲税收。
We're gonna talk about why we have taxes,
我们要谈谈我们为什么会有税收,
what they do for us, and why you should go ahead and take that raise that's gonna bump you into the next tax bracket.
它对我们有什么作用,以及你为什么应该向前,将税率提高到下一个税阶。
Also, rebellions and the British Empire's bad judgment when it came to taxing colonies.
此外,涉及到对殖民地的征税时,我们还会谈到叛乱和大英帝国的错误判断。
While your struggles with taxes and the tax code may seem particularly unpleasant to you today,
虽然现在与税收和税法的斗争可能让你特别不愉快,
people have been paying and complaining about taxes for a long time,
但长期以来,人们一直在纳税并抱怨税收,
way longer than any of us have been alive. Or our parents. Or our grandparents.
这时间比我们任何人的生命都要长,或者从我们的父母或祖父母那代就开始了。
Ancient Mesopotamians paid taxes in the form of livestock and labor.
古代美索不达米亚人以牲畜和劳动的形式纳税。
There are ancient Egyptians texts and tomb scenes showing evidence of taxes, tax collectors, and even tax shelters.
古埃及文献和墓葬的场景展示着税收、税吏甚至避税的证据。
Taxation and tax collectors also show up in the Bible, over and over.
征税和税吏也一再出现在《圣经》中。
Taxes appear in scripture as a necessity, like, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's."
在圣经中,税收作为一种必需品出现,比如“凯撒的归凯撒。”
And tax collectors are in there as sinners right up with prostitutes.
而税吏和妓女一样是罪人。
More recently, in 1927, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote,
近些时候的1927年,美国最高法院法官奥利弗·温德尔·霍姆斯写道,
"Taxes are what we pay for civilized society. Maybe it's time we forgive tax collectors, too."
“税收是我们为文明社会支付的代价。也许我们也该原谅税吏了。”
So we've had taxes pretty much as long as we've had records of organized society.
所以只要我们有组织化社会的记录,我们就有税收。
But why? What are the goals of taxation?
但为什么会有税收,收税的目标是什么呢?
At the most basic level, taxes raise money for government services.
在最基本的层面上,税收为政府服务筹集资金。
Taxes are used to promote the well-being of society, at least well-being as defined by the government in power.
税收被用来促进社会福祉,至少是由当权者定义的福祉。
They help us afford services markets might not pay for on their own,
它们帮助我们为市场可能不会自行支付的服务买单,
things like public safety and national defense and education.
比如公共安全、国防和教育。
Taxes can be used to protect the environment.
税收可以用于保护环境。
They can help a country implement fiscal and monetary policies meant to push along economic growth.
它们可以帮助一个国家实施旨在推动经济增长的财政和货币政策。
Taxes can be used as a way to redistribute wealth in a society from people who have more to people who have less.
税收可以作为一种重新分配社会财富的方式,让财富从富人流向穷人。
This can happen in a couple of ways, some more direct than others.
这可以用几种方法实现,比其他手段更直接。
An income tax system that taxes high income earners at a higher rate than low income earners is one example.
所得税体系对高收入者征收的税率高于低收入者,就是一个例子。
And we'll come back to that.
我们回到这个问题上。
Government subsidies and vouchers like food stamps and housing programs also shift wealth.
政府补贴与食品券和住房项目等补贴也会转移财富。
So do luxury taxes, basically an additional tax bill on expensive items like jet planes, expensive furs,
奢侈品税也一样,它主要是对昂贵的物品征收额外的税,比如喷气式飞机、昂贵的皮草,
and that really annoying diamond ring space on the Monopoly board.
以及专卖板上那令人讨厌的钻戒区。
Governments can also use taxes to try to change people's behavior.
政府也可以利用税收来改变人们的行为。
Sin taxes on not-good-for-you products like cigarettes and alcohol are meant to reduce consumption of unhealthy products.
对烟酒这类有害的产品征收罪过税,是为了减少对不健康产品的消费。
Gasoline taxes are meant to encourage people to drive less.
汽油税是为了鼓励人们少开车。
France passed soda taxes to try to get people to drink fewer sugary drinks.
法国通过了碳酸饮料税,试图让人们少喝含糖饮料。
Denmark passed, and then got rid of, a fat tax on foods that were relatively high in saturated fat.
丹麦通过了一项对饱和脂肪含量相对较高的食物征收的脂肪税,之后又取消了。
A handful governments, including those in British Columbia, Ireland, and Chile, have instituted carbon taxes.
包括不列颠哥伦比亚省、爱尔兰和智利在内的少数几个政府已经开始征收碳税。
These carbon taxes basically charge businesses and sometimes households
这些碳税主要依据企业和家庭
for the amount of polluting greenhouse gases they use or create.
所使用或制造的污染温室气体数量收取费用。
These carbon taxes take different forms around the world.
世界各地采取了不同的碳税形式。
Residents of British Columbia, for example, pay an extra 6.67 cents per liter of gasoline as a carbon tax.
例如,不列颠哥伦比亚省的居民要为每升汽油额外缴纳6.67美分的碳税。
For those of us in the U.S., Myanmar, and Liberia who don't use the metric system, that's about 25 cents per gallon.
对于不使用公制的我们这些美国人、缅甸人和利比里亚人来说,每加仑汽油是25美分。
In Chile, power plant operators pay five dollars for every metric ton of carbon dioxide that they release into the air.
在智利,发电厂运营商每向空气排放一公吨二氧化碳就要支付5美元。
When economists talk about taxes, they sometimes divide them into direct taxes and indirect taxes.
经济学家谈论税收时,有时会将其分为直接税和间接税。
Direct taxes are paid by a person or organization to the government body that imposes the taxes.
直接税是个人或组织向征税的政府机构缴纳的税收。
These include property taxes and income taxes,
它包括财产税和所得税,
where there's no intermediary, and I can't pass off the tax burden to someone else.
其间没有中介,我不能把税收负担转嫁给别人。
Value added taxes and sales taxes aren't exactly the same thing.
增值税和销售税并不是一回事。
But they're both good examples of indirect tax.
但它们都是间接税的好例子。
They're collected by a store or a seller or producer of goods, but they're actually paid by consumers.
它们是由商店或卖家或生产商收取的,但它们实际是由消费者支付的。
They're taxes that all consumers have to pay, regardless of how much money they make.
这是所有消费者都要交的税,不管他们赚钱多少。
A pair of socks at the mall down the street is gonna cost me exactly the same as when a billionaire buys that pair of socks at the same store.
我在街上购物中心买一双袜子花得钱和一位亿万富翁在同一家商店买那双袜子花得钱一样。
Some economists say indirect taxes distort market prices and lead to one of the things most dreaded by economists,
一些经济学家说,间接税会扭曲市场价格,导致他们最害怕的一件事
the Voldemort of economic outcomes: inefficiency.
经济产出的“伏地魔”发生:效率低。
Economists also characterize taxes as regressive, progressive and proportional.
经济学家还按特点将税收分为递减税、累进税和比例税。
Let's start with regressive taxes.
让我们从递减税开始。
Regressive taxes are typically applied across the board, and on their face,
从表面上看,递减税一般适用于所有领域,
they might seem equitable because everyone pays the same amount.
它似乎很公平,因为每个人支付的金额都一样。
But regressive taxes take a higher toll on people with lower income than high income earners.
但是递减税对低收入人群的影响要高于高收入人群。
Sales taxes, especially on essential items, are considered regressive.
销售税,特别是必备物品的销售税被认为是递减税。
That's why some places exempt food and prescription drug purchases from sales taxes.
这就是为什么有些地方不征收食品和处方药的销售税。
Some economists argue that fees for things like hunting licenses, toll roads, and driver's licenses are also regressive.
一些经济学家认为,对狩猎执照、收费公路和驾照等的征税也是递减税。
Why? Well imagine two drivers go to the department of motor vehicles to get a new license.
为什么呢?想象一下,有两个司机去车管局拿新驾照。
One makes 200,000 dollars a year, the other makes 20,000 dollars.
其中一个人的年收入是20万美元,另一个人的是2万美元。
Both will pay exactly the same amount for their driver's license.
两人都将为自己的驾照支付相同的费用。
The license fee is a much bigger hit for the lower income driver.
对于低收入的驾驶员来说,驾照费用的打击要大得多。
And that's why regressive tax takes a disproportionate toll on people with lower incomes.
这就是递减税对低收入人群造成不成比例的伤害的原因。
On the other end of the taxing spectrum, there are progressive taxes.
征税的另一极端是累进税。

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Progressive taxes are more or less the opposite of regressive taxes

累进税或多或少与递减税对立,
in that they shift the burden of taxation onto people who make more money and away from those who make less.
因为它们将税收负担转移到高收入者而不是低收入群体身上。
In the United States, our income tax is a progressive tax,
在美国,我们的所得税是累进税,
meaning individuals pay more in taxes as they make more income.
也就是说,个人收入增加时,他们会缴纳更多的税。
But before you start worrying about whether making an extra 100 dollars this year is gonna bump you into a higher tax bracket,
但在你开始担心今年多赚100美元是否会让自己的纳税等级上升之前,
it's worth understanding how the progressive income in the United States works.
了解美国的累进收入如何运作是值得的。
When the IRS calculates how much you owe in taxes,
当国税局计算你欠多少税时,
it use marginal income tax brackets based on the amount of taxable income you earned in a year.
它使用边际收益纳税等级,后者基于你一年内的应纳税所得额。
These marginal tax rates represent the highest possible income tax rate you could pay.
这些边际税率代表你所能支付的最高所得税。
Right now, there are seven tax brackets.
现在,美国有七个纳税等级。
But no matter which tax bracket you find yourself in, you're not going to pay that rate for your entire income.
但是无论你身处哪个纳税等级,都不是按那个等级的税率计算全部收入的。
Instead, your taxable income gets divided up into chunks that correspond to each tax rate,
相反,你的应纳税所得额被分割成与各个税率相对应的部分,
and you pay the associated rate on each of those chunks.
你要按照每一部分对应的税率纳税。
For example, say you made 37,450 dollars as a single filer last year.
比如说,去年你作为文件装钉员赚了3.745万元。
That would put you in the 15% tax bracket, but you'd still pay the lower 10% rate on the first 9,225 dollars you made.
你将处于15%的那一纳税等级,但是之前的9225美元要按较低的10%税率纳税。
So if you took the extra 100 dollars and made 37,550 dollars, you'd be bumped up to the 25% tax bracket.
如果你多拿了100美元,赚了37550美元,你就会被提高到25%的税率等级。
But again, you'd only pay 25% on that 100 dollars.
但同样的,只有那100美元你需要按25%的税率纳税。
Your effective tax rate would be lower.
你的实际税率会更低。
The other thing you gotta keep in mind with U.S. income taxes is
另外,你要记住的是,美国的所得税
there are a huge number of tax credits, tax exemptions, and tax deductions that reduce the amount people owe.
有大量的税收抵免、免税和税收减免,可以减少人们的负债。
So your tax bill will never be as painful as that 25% tax bracket may make you think.
所以,税单不会让你像想到25%的纳税等级那样痛苦。
Many countries around the world have their own progressive income tax systems.
世界上许多国家都有自己的累进所得税制度。
But it turns out it's difficult to measure just how progressive any country's total tax system is,
但事实证明,我们很难衡量任何一个国家的整个税收体系到底有多先进,
especially compared to another country.
特别是与另一个国家相比的时候。
It's not as easy as looking at countries with the highest marginal tax rates and deciding they have more progressive tax policy
这并不像观察那些边际税率最高的国家,并决定它们有更多的累进税收政策那样容易,
because so many other taxes and tax breaks come into play.
因为它们还实施了很多其他的税收和税收减免措施。
In the U.S., some economists argue the progressiveness of our income tax code
在美国,一些经济学家认为我们的累进税
offsets the regressiveness of many other taxes we pay.
抵消了我们支付的其他递减税。
If progressiveness and regressiveness are even words.
如果累进税和递减税平等的话。
So we've covered regressive and progressive taxes.
所以我们讲过了累进税和递减税。
The third type of taxes are proportional taxes.
第三种税收是比例税。
Proportional taxes require the same percentage of income from all tax payers, regardless of how much they make.
比例税要求所有纳税人按照相同的比例纳税,不管他们的收入是多少。
A flat tax is an example of a proportional tax.
单一税就是比例税的一个例子。
You'll here politicians touting flat taxes,
你会看到政客们兜售单一税,
in part because they're relatively simple compared to the U.S.'s current incredibly elaborate tax code and because they kind of feel fair.
部分原因是,与美国目前相当复杂的税法相比,它们相对简单,还有一部分原因是他们觉得公平。
Imagine a flat tax of 10%. The woman making 200,000 dollars ends up sending 20,000 dollars to the government,
假设单一税率是10%。一个女人赚了20万美元,结果要交给政府2万美元,
while the guy making 20,000 dollars sends only 2,000 dollars.
而赚了2万美元的人只需上交2千美元。
They both feel a 10% pinch.
他们都被缴掉了10%的收入。
Economists who oppose the flat tax say that feelings have no place in the tax code.
反对单一税的经济学家说,税法没有感情。
They argue a flat tax isn't as simple or as fair as it seems.
他们认为单一税并不像看起来那么简单和公平。
For one, they say that getting rid of all the tax deductions and exemptions and credits we mentioned earlier
首先,他们说废除我们之前提到的所有税收减免、免税和信贷
could change a whole lot of the economic decision-making that happens,
可能会改变很多经济决策,
from saving for retirement in tax-protected accounts to home ownership and donating to charities.
从用免税账户作退休储蓄到自有住房,再到慈善机构捐款等。
All of those activities are encouraged by the tax code we have now.
所有这些活动都受到我们现有税法的鼓励。
Like we mentioned before,
就像我们之前提到的,
there are economist who argue the progressive income tax in the U.S. offsets some of our other more regressive taxes.
经济学家认为,美国的累进所得税抵消了其他一些递减税。
They say a flat tax would shift the total tax burden away from the wealthy to the lower and middle classes,
他们认为,单一税将把整个税收负担从富人阶层转移到中低阶层,
actually making our broader tax policy more regressive.
实际上,它让我们更广泛的税收政策更加倒退。
All of this is complicated, even if it sounds simple.
所有这些都很复杂,即使听起来很简单。
Before you buy into anyone's plan to reform the tax code,
在你接受任何人的改革税法计划之前,
take the time to really read into what it might mean to the economy,
花点儿时间好好研究一下它对经济的影响,
and make sure you're comfortable with all the implications.
确保你对它的所有潜在影响都感到舒服。
Speaking of implications of tax policy, they can be incredibly serious and fascinating.
说到税收政策的影响,它们可能非常严重并令人着迷。
A poor tax choice by a government can and has resulted in rebellions.
政府选择的糟糕税收政策可能并已经导致了叛乱。
Let's go to the Thought Bubble.
我们去“Thought Bubble”。
One tax rebellion is the American Revolution.
一个税收叛乱是美国革命。
After the Seven Years War ended in 1763, Great Britain had a huge debt to pay off.
1763年,“七年战争”结束后,英国有一大笔债务要偿还。
It needed to raise revenue for somewhere and looked toward the colonists in America.
它需要从某些地方增加税收,于是把目光投向了美洲的殖民。
In 1764, the British Parliament started taxing molasses sales.
1764年,英国议会开始对糖蜜销售征税。
In 1765, they enacted the Stamp Act, which added taxes to paper and legal documents.
1765年,他们颁布了《印花税法案》,把税收加到了法律文件中。
Colonists grew more and more frustrated with British officials, both with tax policies and other interventions.
殖民地居民对英国官员越来越不满,无论是对税收政策还是其他干预措施。
Anyway, you know how it goes.
不管怎样,你知道怎么回事。
No taxation without representation, Boston Tea Party, a big war, the French get involved,
经历了无代表不纳税、波士顿倾茶事件、独立战争、法国介入等事件,
and we end up with a free America with taxes and representation (except in Washington D.C.).
最终,我们建立了一个拥有税收和代表权的自由美国(华盛顿除外)。
More recently, in India there was another super interesting tax rebellion called The Salt March.
早些时候,印度发生了另一场非常有趣的税务叛乱,叫做“盐路长征”。
In 1930, India the British were in charge, and they had laws in place that outlawed Indians from collecting or selling salt.
1930年,英国人控制了印度,他们制定法律禁止印度人收集或销售盐。
Instead, they had to buy it from a British monopoly, which collected an 8.2% salt tax.
他们不得不从英国的垄断企业那里购买盐,并被征收8.2%的盐税。
Mohandas Gandhi decided to defy the salt tax by walking 240 miles to the coast of the Arabian Sea to gather tax-free salt.
莫汉达斯·甘地(Mohandas Gandhi)决定对抗盐税,他步行240英里来到阿拉伯海沿岸收集免税的盐。
Along his route, more and more Indians joined him in the peaceful civil disobedience.
沿着他的路线,越来越多的印度人加入到他的和平非暴力反抗当中。
He got to the beach, picked up a piece of salt, and broke the law.
他到了海滩,捡起一块盐,然后触犯了法律。
Thousands of others followed his lead, making and selling non-British salt in a nonviolent resistance.
成千上万的人追随他的脚步,在非暴力抵抗中生产和销售非英国盐。
The salt march was extensively covered in news reels and newspapers,
“盐路长征”被新闻简报和报纸广泛报道,
and it brought international attention to the largely non-violent Indian struggle for independence.
这也引起了国际社会对印度非暴力独立斗争的关注。
All that because of taxes. Thanks Thought Bubble.
一切都是因为税收。感谢“Thought Bubble”。
Of course, there are other ways to get around paying taxes you don't want to pay.
当然,除了反抗或发动大规模的非暴力反抗运动之外,
Other than fighting or starting a mass civil disobedience movement.
有其他方法可以避免你不想交的税。
Based on historical documents, we know people have been running away from paying taxes for years.
根据历史文献,我们知道人们多年来一直在逃税。
Some literally picking up and leaving their homes.
一些人真的会收拾东西离家出走。
Other people have discovered career paths that get them out of tax bills.
还有一些人已经找到了摆脱纳税负担的职业道路。
Historians think that some European men became monks during the Middle Ages to avoid being taxed.
历史学家认为,中世纪一些欧洲人作僧侣是为了避税。
There's proof that some Chinese men joined Buddhist monasteries to get out of paying taxes.
有证据表明,一些中国男子加入佛教寺院以逃避纳税。
There is plenty of room for disagreement over how big government should be and what it should and shouldn't be doing.
人们对政府规模以及它们应该或不应该做什么存在很大分歧。
All those discussions matter to you as a tax payer, and as someone who benefits from taxation and government services.
作为一个纳税人,作为一个从税收和政府服务中受益的人,所有这些讨论对你来说都很重要。
But as we said time and time again,
但正如我们一再说的,
there are some services the market just won't provide, some protections it won't guarantee.
有些服务是市场无法提供的,有些保护是市场无法保证的。
No one likes paying taxes, but we do like what they do for us.
没有人喜欢纳税,但我们喜欢它们对我们起的作用。
Thanks for watching. We'll see you next week.
感谢您的收看。我们下期见。
Thanks for watching Crash Course Economics.
感谢您收看经济速成班。
It's made with the help of all these fine people, who also think salt taxes are incredibly regressive.
它是由这些好心人帮助制作的,他们也认为盐税是令人难以置信的后退。
You can help keep Crash Course for everyone forever by supporting the show at Patreon.
你可以通过支持Patron上的节目帮助速成班永远免费对所有人开放。
Patreon is a voluntary subscription service,
Patreon是个自愿订阅服务的平台,
where you help make the show with your monthly non-tax-deductible contribution and get rewards.
你可以用每月的非免税捐款帮助节目录制,并获得奖励。
Thanks for watching, and don't forget: the next tax bracket's not that scary.
感谢您的收看,不要忘了:下一个纳税等级并不可怕。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
defined [di'faind]

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adj. 有定义的,确定的;清晰的,轮廓分明的 v. 使

 
rebellion [ri'beljən]

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n. 谋反,叛乱,反抗

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bracket ['brækit]

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n. 支架,括号,档次
vt. 支撑,放在括号

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gallon ['gælən]

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n. 加仑(容量单位)

 
reform [ri'fɔ:m]

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v. 改革,改造,革新
n. 改革,改良

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elaborate [i'læbəreit]

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adj. 精细的,详尽的,精心的
v. 详细地

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progressive [prə'gresiv]

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adj. 前进的,渐进的
n. 进步人士

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environment [in'vaiərənmənt]

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n. 环境,外界

 
exempt [ig'zempt]

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n. 免税者,被免除义务者
adj. 免除的<

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saturated ['sætʃəreitid]

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adj. 饱和的,渗透的,深颜色的

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