奧巴馬擬對美企業海外利潤徵稅
President Barack Obama will propose raising $238bn by levying a one-off tax on the cash piles held by US companies overseas to repair the US’s crumbling roads and bridges.
美國總統巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)將提議對美國企業留存在海外的高額現金一次性徵稅，以取得2380億美元收入用於修復國內正在損壞的道路和橋樑。The measure, a key plank of the US president’s budget to be outlined on Monday, would impose a 14 per cent “transition” tax on the estimated $2tn in earnings US companies have amassed overseas, the White House said on Sunday.
白宮上週日表示，此舉是這位美國總統將在週一概要提出的預算案的一個關鍵部分，將對美國企業在海外積累的約2萬億美元利潤徵收14%的“過境”稅。
The proposed tax is less than half the top corporate tax rate in the US, which stands at 35 per cent and which critics claim gives incentives to American companies to hoard earnings abroad instead of investing them at home.
提議的一次性稅不及美國國內企業稅率的一半。批評者聲稱，美國國內企業的稅率達35%，令美國企業有動機把海外利潤留在海外，而不是投資於國內。
The proposal is likely to attract opposition, and would mean a significant tax rise for companies, particularly in the technology and pharmaceuticals sectors that have been shifting profits to low-tax countries such as Ireland and Bermuda.
奧巴馬的提議可能會招致反對，它將意味着美國企業、尤其是科技與製藥企業稅收水平的大幅上升。這兩類企業一直把利潤轉移到愛爾蘭和百慕大等低稅制國家。Mr Obama will also propose a 19 per cent tax on future foreign earnings, giving companies a credit on foreign taxes and allowing them to be reinvested in the US with no additional penalty. Under the current system, US companies pay little or no tax on their earnings abroad until they are brought back into the US.
奧巴馬還將提議未來對美國企業的海外利潤徵稅19%，使它們享受外國稅收抵免，並允許它們將海外利潤再投資於美國，而不再承受其他懲罰。在當前稅制下，美國企業的海外利潤只要不帶回國內，便基本或者完全不必繳稅。The money raised would be used to fund about half of an ambitious six-year programme of highway, bridge and transit upgrades, one of the president’s main priorities during his final two years in office and an initiative that has attracted some degree of bipartisan support. The remainder of the programme would be financed by the existing highway fund.
這筆稅收收入將用於滿足一項雄心勃勃、爲期6年的公路、橋樑和運輸系統升級項目的半數資金要求——該項目是奧巴馬最後兩年任期內的主要任務之一，在一定程度上吸引了兩黨的支持。項目其餘資金將來自現行的公路基金。
