中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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File photo of Warren Buffett in a trading session. He urged U.S. lawmakers to raise taxes on the country's super-rich to help cut the budget deficit.(Agencies) |
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Billionaire Warren Buffett urged U.S. lawmakers to raise taxes on the country's super-rich to help cut the budget deficit, saying such a move will not hurt investments. The 80-year-old accused Congress of being 'billionaire friendly' and claimed in an opinion article for the New York Times that they spared him and his rich friends when talking about a 'shared sacrifice'. He said: “Our leaders have asked for ‘shared sacrifice’. But when they did the asking, they spared me.” “I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.” “My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.” Buffett, one of the world's richest men and chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said his federal tax bill last year was $6,938,744. “That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 per cent of my taxable income - and that's actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office.” “Their tax burdens ranged from 33 per cent to 41 per cent and averaged 36 per cent,” he said. Lawmakers engaged in a partisan battle over spending and taxes for more than three months before agreeing on August 2 to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling, avoiding a U.S. default. Mr Buffett said: 'Americans are rapidly losing faith in the ability of Congress to deal with our country's fiscal problems. 'Only action that is immediate, real and very substantial will prevent that doubt from morphing into hopelessness.' He said higher taxes for the rich will not discourage investment and cited the example of the eighties when rates were much higher. 'Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies)
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億萬富翁沃倫?巴菲特近日呼吁美國立法者向美國富豪增稅，以幫助削減預算赤字，并表示此舉并不會打擊投資熱情。 80歲的巴菲特指責國會“善待億萬富翁”，并在《紐約時報》上撰寫評論文章稱，在談及“共同做出犧牲”時，國會對他和他的富豪朋友們過度寬容。 他說：“我們的領(lǐng)導者們要求共同做出犧牲，但付諸實施時，卻放過了我?！?/p> “我向富豪朋友們求證會損失多少，但他們也都毫發(fā)未損?！?/p> “國會過于善待億萬富翁，我和我的富豪朋友們一直都被溺愛著。政府現(xiàn)在應(yīng)該嚴肅對待共同犧牲這回事兒了?！?/p> 巴菲特稱自己去年向聯(lián)邦政府繳稅693萬8744美元。他是世界上最富有的人之一，同時掌管伯克希爾?哈撒韋公司。 “聽起來好像是一大筆錢。但那只占了我應(yīng)稅收入的17.4%，甚至低于我辦公室里的其他20名員工?！?/p> 他說：“他們的稅收負擔在33%到41%之間，平均36%。” 此前，立法者們陷入黨派斗爭，為支出和稅收足足吵了三個多月，直到8月2日才達成協(xié)議，上調(diào)14.3萬億美元的債務(wù)上限，避免了美債違約。 巴菲特說：“美國民眾對國會應(yīng)對國家財政問題能力的信心正迅速流失?！?/p> “只有立即采取切實有效的行動，才能避免這種質(zhì)疑變成絕望?！?/p> 他以上世紀80年代為例，那時稅率比現(xiàn)在高得多，但并沒有抑制投資。 “20世紀80年代和90年代時，富人的稅率要比現(xiàn)在高得多，我的稅率也就是中等水平。” 相關(guān)閱讀 （中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 實習生沈清 編輯：Julie） |
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Vocabulary: spare: to save or relieve from experiencing or doing（使免遭，免去，解除） coddle: to treat indulgently（溺愛，嬌慣） conglomerate: a corporation made up of a number of different companies that operate in diversified fields（企業(yè)集團） partisan: of, relating to, or characteristic of a partisan or partisans（黨派的，派系的） morph: to be transformed（變化, 變形） |
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