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Finance and economics
商业报道
Tax breaks
税收优惠
Bribing the taxpayer
讨好纳税人
Wasteful tax perks are sadly common
遗憾的是，税收优惠经常被浪费
ANY talk of tax reform in America quickly turns to tax expenditures, meaning the code's myriad exemptions, deductions and credits.
一谈到美国的税收改革，很快就能转向税式支出这个话题，这意味着大量的税收减免和政府收入减少。
These now cost 7% of GDP. Economists deride many of them as handouts for influential firms and middle-class voters.
现在这些优惠占到了GDP的7%。经济学家嘲笑他们受惠者中许多人都是颇有影响力的企业和中产阶级选民。
But for just that reason, politicians are reluctant to curb them.
但也就是这个原因促使政客不愿意减少相关优惠。
A new paper from the IMF suggests other countries have much the same problem.
国际货币基金组织的一篇新文章表明，有很多国家存在同样的问题。
America, it turns out, is not the most profligate provider of tax breaks.
事实证明，美国在税收减免优惠方面并不是最大方的。
Australia and Italy spend more on them, as a proportion of their GDP.
澳大利亚和意大利的税收优惠所占GDP份额更高，
Britain and Spain are not far behind.
英国和西班牙的税式支出紧随其后。
The bulk of the spending goes on individual income-tax relief for things like saving for pensions and interest payments on mortgages.
大部分个人所得税被养老保险和抵押贷款利息抵免。
That Europe still spends lavishly on tax discounts in spite of its fiscal problems is especially striking.
尽管欧洲财政问题举世瞩目，但其在税收优惠方面依然大手笔。
Italy gives away 1.8 billion each year on tax breaks for farmers alone.
意大利政府每年对农民的税收优惠金额高达18亿欧元。
Germany spends over 2 billion a year subsidising bonus payments for working evenings and weekends—an incentive first introduced by the Nazis to boost munitions production during the second world war.
德国每年耗费超过20亿奖金补贴给那些上夜班和周末加班的人士——这项奖励首次使用是在第二次世界大战期间，是时纳粹为了提高弹药生产率而颁布了这项优惠。
The financial crisis has been a missed opportunity to cut this sort of outdated largesse, says Pierre Leblanc of the OECD.
经合组织工作人员Pierre Leblan表示金融危机是缩减税收优惠的绝妙机会，但是却被错过了。
While some countries have trimmed them to help cut their deficits, others, like Britain and France, have introduced new ones to encourage investment.
虽然有些国家为了削减赤字而减少了税收优惠，像英国和法国也已经为了鼓励投资而另辟蹊径。
Overall, they remain at a similar level to before the crisis.
但是，总的来说他们的税收优惠仍处于危机前水平。
The IMF argues that now is the time to roll back tax breaks to help cut budget deficits.
IMF认为，现在是时候削减税收优惠了，以达到削减预算赤字的目标。
Regular review would increase scrutiny of outdated perks.
定期审查将增加对过时津贴的安全性。
Many could be replaced with more targeted measures: most of the benefit is currently enjoyed by the rich rather than those needing help.
许多优惠可以更换为更有针对性：就目前而言，大多数优惠项目都是大而广泛的，而税收优惠的受惠者多为有钱人而不是那些真正需要的人。
For instance, over half of income-tax breaks in America go to the richest 20% of households, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
根据国会预算办公室数据显示，例如，美国20%的最富有家庭的所得税减免超过所得税额的一半，
The poorest 20% are left with just 8% of the pie.
而20%的最穷家庭的税收优惠却只有其所得税额的8%。
Spain is reviewing its tax expenditures as part of its austerity drive. But Italy is a more typical case.
西班牙政府正在审阅其税式支出的紧缩计划。但意大利在方面更快一步。
The IMF sees scope for making savings of up to 61 billion.
国际货币基金组织认为该计划的实施能至少节约610亿欧元。
Yet the latest budget law, passed last month, requires tax breaks to be pruned by just 10 billion by 2017.
然而上个月通过的最新预算法案要求，仅需到2017年以前，缩减100亿欧元的税收优惠便可。
Even that proved politically unpalatable: on January 21st the government was reported to be rescinding the planned cuts.
而即使这样也带来政治上的不快：1月21日，意大利政府宣布取消削减计划。
Higher taxes, it seems, are unpopular everywhere.
更高的税负，似乎到处都是不受欢迎的。
