我喜欢交税，Oliver Wendell Holmes如是说。我用税（它们）购买文明。大部分人认可税支付了公共服务，但是很少人像Holmes大法官一样热衷为它们掏腰包。高收入所得税往往挫败努力和企业家精神，与此同时鼓励各种各样的活动来避免交税（它们）。那就是为什么好税收政策的一个基本原则长期以来都是在更大的税基上征收低额（的税）。
I [like] to pay taxes, [says] Oliver Wendell Holmes. [With them] I /pay them for/ [buy] civilisation. Most people recognise that taxes pay for public services, but few are as keen to stump up for [them] as Justice Holmes [was]. High income taxes tend to discourage effort/s/ and entrepreneurship, while encourag[ing] all manners of activit[y] to avoid them. That is why a basic principle of good tax polic[y] has long been to [charge] a low rate [over] a wider[/broad] base.
这是一个许多国家错过的目标，而且差距正在增长。所得税，整个富裕世界税务收入主要来源之一，，越来越多地被最为有钱的一小部分少数派支付。在英国，在过去五年雇佣上升了130万，但是纳税者的数量则下降了220万。超过40%的美国家庭没有支付所得税。相较之下，英国最高收入的1%工人支付了28%的所有所得税，与此同时在美国则是46%。在1979年，这些份额分别是11%和18%。企业所得税显示了同样的集中性.
This[/It] is a target [which] many countries miss, and the gap is growing. Income tax[es], one of the main source[s] of tax revenue across the rich world, [are] increasingly paid by a small minority of the most affluent. In Britain, employment has risen by 1.3 million [in] the past five years, but the number of taxpayers has fallen by 2.2 million. More than 40% of American households /do not/ pay [no] income tax. In contrast, the [most] high[ly] paid 1% [of] workers in Britain pay 28% of all income tax, while in American it is 46%. In 1979, those shares were 11% and 18% respectively. Corporate income taxes show the same concentration.
这种收窄的税基一部分是加大的不平等的自然结果。因为前所有为的一大份额总体收入进入最高工资者，而且因为所得税在进步，伴随着对更高的收入进行更高的征收率，不可避免的，也是合适的，最为有钱的人应当在总的税收金额中支付逐渐增长的份额。
[This] narrowing [of the] tax base is [partly] the natural consequence of the growing[/widening] inequality. Since an ever-bigger share of [overall] income goes into the highest earner[s], and since income tax[es are] progressive with a higher levied [at] /the/ higher income, it is inevitable and appropriate that the most affluent should pay a increasing[/growing] share [of] the overall tax take.
不幸的是，税基的收窄，在个人和企业两方面，也反应了税收政策的两种失败。第一种是豁免和减税的扩散，走得越来越超过合理的扶贫（打击）政策。第二个问题，主要适用于企业所得税，在于税务规则没能跟上21世纪经济的现实。一个公司的税单更多地取决于它所处的产业，以及它的会计有多聪明，而不是它的盈利能力。这些失败需要得到解决。
Unfortunately, the narrowing of [the] tax base, both personal and corpora[te], also reflects two failures of /the/ tax policy. The first is the proliferation of exemption[s] and [d]eduction[s] go/es/ far beyond reasonable poverty-fighting policies. The second problem, [which applies] /fits/ most/ly/ [to] corpora[te] income tax[es], is that tax rules [have failed to] keep up with the [reality of the] 21st-century economy. A company[/firm]'s tax bills depend more on what industry it is in and how clever its accountant[s are] /is/ than its profitability. These failures need to be fixed.
7.11
pay taxes/with them I buy civilisation
Oliver Wendell Holmes/Justice Holmes
taxes pay for public services
stump up for it/pay for
discourage/encourage
effort and entrepreneurship/all manner of activity to avoid
a basic principle of good tax policy/charge a low rate over a broad base/narrowing of the tax base
principle/target... miss
gap is growing/growing
broad/wide
growing/widening/increasingly
Income taxes/ one of the main sources of tax revenue
rich/affluent/wealthy/highest earners/most highly paid
has risen/fallen
pay no income tax
In contrast
shares/ratio
respectively
partly the natural consequence of widening inequality
overall income
be progressive with a higher rate levied at higher income
inevitable and appropriate
pay a growing share of the overall tax take
both personal and corporate/ reflects two failures of tax policy
the proliferation of exemptions and deductions
go far beyond reasonable poverty-fighting policies
applies most to
tax bills depend more on... than
what industry it is in and how clever its accountants are
profitability
failures need to be fixed.
