美國財政部長呼籲打擊稅收"倒置"

Jack Lew, US Treasury secretary, has urged Congress to crack down on merger deals in which companies seek to redomicile overseas to reduce their US taxes, invoking the need for “economic patriotism” in reversing a practice that has flourished in recent months.

美國財長傑克•盧(Jack Lew)督促美國國會打擊一些併購交易，在這些交易中，企業希望將其註冊地轉移到海外，以降低他們在美國的繳稅，最近幾個月這類交易不斷增多，引發了“經濟愛國主義”被付諸實施的需要。

In a letter to Dave Camp, the Republican chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Mr Lew said US lawmakers should pass measures to stamp out “inversions”, which were contained in the Obama administration’s most recent budget proposal and later embraced by senior Democrats on Capitol Hill.

在寫給負責稅收政策的國會衆議院籌款委員會(house ways and means committee)共和黨主席戴夫•坎貝(Dave Camp)的一封信中，盧表示，美國立法者應通過立法打擊“稅收倒置行爲”(inversions)，這些包括在奧巴馬政府最近的預算提案之中，後來得到了國會高級民主黨人的支持。

Mr Lew said the tax change should take effect retroactively to May 2014 – the time when Pfizer, the US drugs company, was considering a relocation to the UK in conjunction with its $106bn bid for AstraZeneca, a British rival, that ultimately collapsed.

盧表示，稅收改革的施行應回溯到2014年5月，當時美國製藥公司輝瑞(Pfizer)正考慮將註冊地遷往英國，這與該公司以1060億美元競購英國競爭對手阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)的計劃相關，後來這一收購計劃流產。

“Congress should enact legislation immediately . . . to shut down this abuse of our tax system,” Mr Lew wrote in the letter to Mr Camp, which was obtained by the Financial Times on Tuesday. “What we need as a nation is a new sense of economic patriotism, where we all rise and fall together,” Mr Lew wrote.

“國會應立即實行立法……停止這種濫用稅收體系的做法，”盧在寫給坎貝的信中寫道，“作爲一個國家，我們需要具備一種新的經濟愛國主義意識，我們共同起落。”英國《金融時報》週二看到了這封信。

Mr Lew’s letter on Tuesday was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. It follows plans revealed this week by Mylan, the US generic drugmaker, to move to the Netherlands through its purchase of Abbott Labs’ European generics drugs unit.

《華爾街日報》週二首先報道了盧的這封信。在此之前，美國仿製藥製造商邁蘭製藥公司(Mylan)本週公佈計劃，將通過收購雅培製藥(Abbott Lab)歐洲仿製藥業務，將公司註冊地遷往荷蘭。

The most high-profile tax inversion planned by a US company, which ultimately failed, was Pfizer’s effort to buy AstraZeneca this year, which increased scrutiny of such transactions in Congress and stoked debate among many US corporate tax executives, economists and lobbyists.

美國公司策劃的最爲高調的“稅收倒置”行爲是輝瑞今年試圖收購阿斯利康的計劃（最終失敗），這使美國國會加強了對此類交易的審查，並在美國很多企業高管、經濟學家和遊說者中間引發了辯論。

Driving US companies away from US shores is the corporate tax rate of 35 per cent, one of the highest in the developed world, and the treatment of foreign earnings, which are subject to US taxes when they are repatriated to America.

推動美國公司遷往海外的是美國35%的公司稅率（爲發達國家最高之列）以及對海外收益的處置，當這些收益匯回到美國時需向美國繳稅。

Both the Obama administration and congressional Republicans have plans to overhaul the US corporate tax system entirely to make it more globally competitive, but they have been unable to agree on many of the details, leaving the door wide open for inversions to keep occurring.

奧巴馬政府和國會中的共和黨人都計劃徹底改革美國公司稅體系，令其在全球更具競爭力，但他們未能就很多細節達成一致，這讓投資者有機會利用這一漏洞。