格里高利·曼昆語錄
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.
但是仍然有時間糾正他們的錯誤，例如1983年Ronald Reagan對社會保障的小改革。國會可通過一項法令：每年兩個月提高享有社會福利的年齡限制。這個年齡限制的提高會持續(xù)增長直到社會保障和醫(yī)療保障的受托人宣稱系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)達到長期的稅收平衡。那些已經(jīng)退休或者就要退休的人不會被影響，但是中年人群體不得不延長工作時間或者為自己的退休存錢。這個改革的的受益者是我們的孩子，他們不會承擔(dān)歐式的稅率。
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.
雖然稅收漏洞可以完全由減少財政開銷來解決，但是一個現(xiàn)實的政治性妥協(xié)同樣愿意增加一定財政收入來解決這個問題。無論如何，我們的新財政部部長會尋找更有效的稅收來源，而不是簡單的摒棄布什所提出的減少稅收的政策。
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.
長期以來經(jīng)濟學(xué)家們都注意到，即使很多稅收都扭曲了激勵和減小了經(jīng)濟利益的這塊蛋糕，但是仍有一些促進經(jīng)濟并增大了這塊蛋糕的體積。例如，更高的汽油稅比CAFE政策更能改善美國人用車的燃料效率。他也能鼓勵人們少開車，比如，選擇住在離工作地方近的處所。在煤炭消費上加稅是最好的解決全球變暖的方法。它們被稱為“Pigovian”稅收，以英國經(jīng)濟學(xué)家Arthur Pigo之名，他也是用稅收來糾正不完善市場的早期提倡者。
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.
類似的，經(jīng)濟學(xué)家更把“罪惡稅”看做是一個提高稅收的好辦法。如果說Pigovian稅收的目的是保護無辜的群眾不受他人活動的侵害，那么”罪惡稅”的目的則是保護人們自己不受自己的侵害�；谌藗冊谧灾屏ι系膯栴}，“罪惡稅”可成為增加社會福利的好辦法。經(jīng)濟學(xué)家Jonathan Gruber和Sendhil Mullainathan報告中有證據(jù)稱，當(dāng)煙草稅增加的時候吸煙者更高興。當(dāng)然，不吸煙者不會反對煙草稅對他人增加的負(fù)擔(dān)。也許我們可以考慮對煙草、酒精、賭博等有關(guān)人類自制力的活動增收更多的稅。
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，即使所得稅是用來增加財政收入的，我們也應(yīng)該擴大征收范圍而不是增加利率。去年11月，總統(tǒng)的咨詢小組就聯(lián)邦稅制改革問題向斯-諾提出了一些好的建議。鮑爾森應(yīng)該繼續(xù)稅制改革并且堅持這幾個建議應(yīng)該比之前得到更多國會的關(guān)注。例如，此小組曾建議減收國家和地方稅。這是有道理的。在現(xiàn)行的法律體制下，如果一個城鎮(zhèn)征收太多的稅來投入市政建設(shè)，而相鄰的'另一個城鎮(zhèn)沒有這么做，第一個鎮(zhèn)就得繳稅--為了第二個鎮(zhèn)的開銷補助。這個結(jié)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.
總統(tǒng)的咨詢小組建議提高住房抵押貸款利息。聯(lián)邦稅制系統(tǒng)現(xiàn)在傾向于用公共資產(chǎn)投資房產(chǎn)領(lǐng)域--而這會減少生產(chǎn)力和真實的工資收入。雖然有人認(rèn)為政策應(yīng)當(dāng)促進購買住房來代替租房（商榷索賠），但還是沒有理由鼓勵人們買更大的住房。我們能做的是讓住房補助降至低于現(xiàn)有一百萬美元的水平。
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.
當(dāng)保持一個低稅率的時候，解決長期稅收不平衡的情況有很多種方法。這個問題未被解決最主要的原因是美國大眾沒有對他們所選的財政負(fù)責(zé)人在此問題上施加壓力。其實他們越早這么做越有好處。如果漢克鮑爾森想把經(jīng)濟狀況調(diào)整的比原有的更好，他將把他的主要精力都集中在這個如何達到長期稅收平衡的問題上。
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