有聲雙語熱點：亞馬遜狂賺100億美元，卻不用交稅

亞馬遜讓貝佐斯成爲了全球首富，那麼這家新興巨頭想必要交很多稅吧？

額，可能和你想的不太一樣。

英文原文音頻：

圖片來源：視覺中國

Those wondering how many zeros Amazon, which is valued at nearly $800 billion, has to pay in federal taxes might be surprised to learn that its check to the IRS will read exactly $0.00.

那些想知道市值約8000億美元的亞馬遜要繳納多少聯邦稅的人，可能會驚訝地發現，它給國稅局的支票恰好是0美元。

According to a report published by the Institute on Taxation and Economic (ITEP) policy Wednesday, the e-tail/retail/tech/entertainment/everything giant won’t have to pay a cent in federal taxes for the second year in a row.

美國稅收與經濟研究所（ITEP）週三發佈的一份報告顯示，這家電子零售/科技/娛樂/所有行業的巨頭將不需要連續兩年繳納聯邦稅。

This tax-free break comes even though Amazon almost doubled its U.S. profits from $5.6 billion to $11.2 billion between 2017 and 2018.

儘管亞馬遜在美國的利潤在2017年至2018年間增長了幾乎一倍，從56億美元增長到112億美元，但這一免稅優惠還是來了。

To top it off, Amazon actually reported a $129 million 2018 federal income tax rebate—making its tax rate -1%.

更有甚者，亞馬遜報告了2018年1.29億美元的聯邦所得稅退稅，使其稅率降低了1%。

Amazon’s low (to non-existent) tax rate has been chided by politicians ranging from Senator Bernie Sanders to President Donald Trump.

從參議員伯尼•桑德斯到總統唐納德•特朗普，亞馬遜很低的（甚至是不存在的）稅率受到了政界人士的譴責。

But even though Trump previously blasted Amazon for its limited state taxes—a single presidential tweet caused the company’s shares to fall by 9%—ITEP notes that its non-existent federal tax payment is a result of the Trump Administration’s corporation-friendly tax cuts. 

儘管特朗普之前曾抨擊過亞馬遜繳納的州稅有限——一條總統的推特就導致該公司股價下跌了9%，但是ITEP 指出，該公司不交聯邦稅是特朗普政府對企業的有利減稅政策的結果。

The think tank writes that the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act not only decreased corporate tax rates from 35% to 21%, but it also didn’t close “a slew of tax loopholes that allow profitable companies to routinely avoid paying federal and state income taxes on almost half of their profits.”

智囊團寫道，2017年的減稅和就業法案不僅將企業所得稅稅率從35%降低至21%，而且沒有消除“大量的稅收漏洞，這些漏洞使盈利公司們能習慣性地逃避對幾乎一半的利潤繳納聯邦和州所得稅”。

Amazon has a history of avoiding various sales taxes and made headlines last summer after successfully convincing Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to repeal a tax that would have helped the city’s homeless population.

亞馬遜有避免各種銷售稅的歷史，去年夏天，它成功地說服西雅圖市長珍妮·德坎廢除一項本可以幫助該市無家可歸人口的稅收，登上了新聞頭條。

今日語言點

1）be valued at

這個結構用來表示“……的價值是多少”。

這裏的 valued 是 value（價值）作動詞，表示“定價”。

2）read $0.00

Read（閱讀）可以用來表“數值是多少”。

3）make sth. sth.

這個結構表示“使……成爲……”、“導致……是……”

The show made him famous.

那個節目讓他紅了。