来源：《华盛顿邮报》
刊登日期：2021年4月13日
Sound fiscal policy encourages businesses to invest where their capital can find its most productive use, in terms of real economics, rather than on the basis of advantageous tax rules, which are subject to political influence. Not only does this optimize market efficiency, but also, by preventing various tax jurisdictions from competing for investment, it optimizes revenue collection. That is the theory: Needless to say, reality falls short of the nice ideal. Still, it is worth reconsidering these basic principles to understand the Biden administration’s new ideas for corporate taxation, which combine higher U.S. rates with efforts to coordinate corporate tax policy internationally.
健全的财政政策鼓励企业根据实际的经济情况，投资于其资本能够得到最有效利用的领域，而不是基于受政治影响的有利的税收规则。这不仅优化了市场效率，而且通过防止不同税收管辖区争夺投资，还优化了税收征管。这只是理论：不用说，现实远不如理想中的美好。不过，有必要重新考虑这些基本原则，以理解拜登(Biden)政府对企业税收的新想法，即将提高美国税率与在国际上努力协调企业税收政策相结合。
To raise revenue for his infrastructure plan, the president proposed raising the federal corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent. This won’t work if U.S. firms flee to lower-tax countries, so Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has endorsed a new global corporate minimum tax that would not only prevent a new “race to the bottom” on business taxation among advanced industrial countries, but also dampen the one that already exists. It could help all countries raise revenue at a time when all have taken out huge debts to cope with the pandemic. Ms. Yellen made a key concession that would allow European countries to tax local earnings of U.S. tech companies, with reciprocal treatment in the United States for foreign multinationals.
为了给基础设施计划筹集资金，拜登提议将联邦企业税率从21%提高到28%。如果美国公司逃到低税收国家，这就行不通了，因此美国财政部长珍妮特·耶伦已经表示支持新的全球企业最低税，这不仅可以防止发达工业国家在商业税收上出现新的“逐底竞赛”，还可以抑制已经存在的企业最低税。这样可以帮助所有国家在为应对疫情而负债累累的情况下增加收入。耶伦做出了关键的让步，即允许欧洲国家对美国科技公司在当地的收益征税，在美国对外国跨国公司给予互惠待遇。
All of the above departs from policy under the Trump administration, which cut the corporate rate to 21 percent and engaged in tariff wars to stop European taxation of U.S. tech firms. But the Biden administration policy represents a more stable and cooperative path. The administration frames its approach as ending incentives for U.S. multinationals to flee for low tax areas. If successful, though, the new approach would level the playing field for global capital generally, a win for all countries.
上述所有做法都背离了特朗普政府的政策，后者将企业税率降至21%，并发动关税战，以阻止欧洲对美国科技公司征税。但拜登政府的政策代表了一条更加稳定和合作的道路。拜登政府将其策略框定为停止激励美国跨国公司向低税收地区逃遁。不过，如果成功的话，新方法将为全球资本创造一个公平的竞争环境，对所有国家都是一种胜利。
Despite much upbeat talk from U.S. and European negotiators, there is a long way to go before a deal gets done. One basic question is whether the administration will succeed in persuading Congress to raise the U.S. corporate rate to 28 percent, a figure about which not only major businesses but also some Democrats in Congress have doubts. Democrat Senator Joe Manchin III says he won’t support anything above 25 percent. And it’s true that figure would be more in line with the advanced-economy average of 23.5 percent; it also would better reflect the fact that U.S.-based companies must pay state corporate taxes on top of federal levies. The competition among U.S. states for economic development dollars would not be affected by a change in federal law; this is one reason that the happy ideal of a level playing field for capital may never be achieved.
尽管美国和欧洲的谈判代表都表示乐观，但要达成协议还有很长的路要走。一个基本的问题是，拜登政府能否成功说服国会将美国企业税率提高到28%。对于这个数字，不仅大型企业，国会中的一些民主党议员也持怀疑态度。民主党参议员乔·曼钦三世说，他不会支持超过25%的税率。当然，这个数字更符合发达经济体23.5%的平均税率水平；它也将更好地反映这样一个事实，即美国公司必须在缴纳联邦税的基础上缴纳州税。美国各州之间对经济发展资金的竞争不会受到联邦法律变化的影响；这就是资本公平竞争的理想可能永远无法实现的原因之一。
Nevertheless, it is a worthy objective that the Biden administration, in consultation with peer nations around the world, should pursue.
尽管如此，拜登政府在与世界其他国家磋商后，这仍是一个值得追求的目标。