语录名言 点击： 2018-08-16
There is still time to correct their mistake, taking an approach adopted in a small way in Ronald Reagan"s 1983 Social Security reform. Congrecould paa law increasing the age of eligibility by, say, two months every year. That increase would continue until the Trustees for Social Security and Medicare (a group that includes the Treasury secretary) declared the programs in long-term fiscal balance.
Those already retired or near retirement would not be affected, but
those of us now middle-aged would have to work longer or save to finance our own early retirement. The beneficiaries of such a reform would be our children, who would not have to inherit European-style tax rates.
但是仍然有时间纠正他们的错误，例如1983年Ronald Reagan对社会保障的小改革。国会可通过一项法令：每年两个月提高享有社会福利的年龄限制。这个年龄限制的提高会持续增长直到社会保障和医疗保障的受托人宣称系统已经达到长期的税收平衡。那些已经退休或者就要退休的人不会被影响，但是中年人群体不得不延长工作时间或者为自己的退休存钱。这个改革的的受益者是我们的孩子，他们不会承担欧式的税率。
Although the fiscal gap could be completely closed with reduced spending, a realistic political compromise will likely include higher revenues as well. Even here, however, rather than consider a
reversal of the Bush tax cuts, the new Treasury secretary should look
for more efficient revenue sources.
虽然税收漏洞可以完全由减少财政开销来解决，但是一个现实的政治性妥协同样愿意增加一定财政收入来解决这个问题。无论如何，我们的新财政部部长会寻找更有效的税收来源，而不是简单的摒弃布什所提出的减少税收的政策。
Economists have long noted that while most taxes distort incentives and shrink the size of the economic pie, others improve incentives and enlarge it. A higher tax on gasoline, for example, is better than CAFE standards as a policy to improve the fuel efficiency of the American car fleet. It would also encourage people to drive leby, for instance, living closer to where they work. A tax on carbon is the best way to deal with global warming. These are called Pigovian taxes, after the British economist Arthur Pigou, an early advocate of using taxes to correct market imperfections.
长期以来经济学家们都注意到，即使很多税收都扭曲了激励和减小了经济利益的这块蛋糕，但是仍有一些促进经济并增大了这块蛋糕的体积。例如，更高的汽油税比CAFE政策更能改善美国人用车的燃料效率。他也能鼓励人们少开车，比如，选择住在离工作地方近的处所。在煤炭消费上加税是最好的解决全球变暖的方法。它们被称为“Pigovian”税收，以英国经济学家Arthur Pigo之名，他也是用税收来纠正不完善市场的早期提倡者。
Similarly, economists have increasingly viewed "sin taxes" as a good way to raise revenue. While Pigovian taxes aim to protect innocent bystanders from the actions of others, sin taxes aim to protect people from themselves.
To the extent that people have problems with self-control, sin taxes
can be welfare-enhancing. Economists Jonathan Gruber and Sendhil
Mullainathan report evidence that smokers are happier when cigarette
taxes are higher. Of course, non-smokers won"t object to shifting the
tax burden to others. Maybe we should consider higher taxes on smoking,
drinking, gambling and other activities about which people lack
self-control.
类似的，经济学家更把“罪恶税”看做是一个提高税收的好办法。如果说Pigovian税收的目的是保护无辜的群众不受他人活动的侵害，那么”罪恶税”的目的则是保护人们自己不受自己的侵害。基于人们在自制力上的问题，“罪恶税”可成为增加社会福利的好办法。经济学家Jonathan Gruber和Sendhil Mullainathan报告中有证据称，当烟草税增加的时候吸烟者更高兴。当然，不吸烟者不会反对烟草税对他人增加的负担。也许我们可以考虑对烟草、酒精、赌博等有关人类自制力的活动增收更多的税。
Finally, even if the income tax is to be used to increase revenue, we should broaden the base rather than raise rates. Last November, the President"s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform offered several good suggestions when it handed its report to John Snow. Mr. Paulson should continue talking about tax reform and insist that these ideas get more attention from Congrethan they have gotten so far.
For example, the panel proposed eliminating the deductibility of state and local taxes. This makes sense. Under current law, if one town enacts high local taxes to finance a municipal pool while a neighboring town does not, the first town gets a federal subsidy at the expense of the second. That outcome is neither efficient nor equitable.
最后，即使所得税是用来增加财政收入的，我们也应该扩大征收范围而不是增加利率。去年11月，总统的咨询小组就联邦税制改革问题向斯-诺提出了一些好的建议。鲍尔森应该继续税制改革并且坚持这几个建议应该比之前得到更多国会的关注。例如，此小组曾建议减收国家和地方税。这是有道理的。在现行的法律体制下，如果一个城镇征收太多的税来投入市政建设，而相邻的另一个城镇没有这么做，第一个镇就得缴税--为了第二个镇的开销补助。这个结果既不有效也不公平。
The President"s Advisory Panel also proposed scaling back the
mortgage-interest deduction. The federal tax system now tilts the
playing field toward residential capital at the expense of corporate
capital, which in turn reduces productivity and real wages. Even if one
believes that policy should promote homeownership over renting (a
debatable claim), there is no reason to encourage people to buy ever
larger homes. Let"s lower the cap on subsidized mortgages well below
its present $1 million level.
总统的咨询小组建议提高住房抵押贷款利息。联邦税制系统现在倾向于用公共资产投资房产领域--而这会减少生产力和真实的工资收入。虽然有人认为政策应当促进购买住房来代替租房（商榷索赔），但还是没有理由鼓励人们买更大的住房。我们能做的是让住房补助降至低于现有一百万美元的水平。
There are many options for dealing with the long-term fiscal imbalance while keeping tax rates low. The main reason the problem is not yet resolved is that the American people have not put enough pressure on their elected representatives to take the issue seriously. The sooner they do, the better. If Hank Paulson wants to leave the nation"s finances in better shape than he found them, his main job will be to focus attention on the problem.
当保持一个低税率的时候，解决长期税收不平衡的情况有很多种方法。这个问题未被解决最主要的原因是美国大众没有对他们所选的财政负责人在此问题上施加压力。其实他们越早这么做越有好处。如果汉克鲍尔森想把经济状况调整的比原有的更好，他将把他的主要精力都集中在这个如何达到长期税收平衡的问题上。