Unprecedented. Seismic. World-changing. The finance chiefs of G7 countries reached for superlatives as they hailed Saturday’s corporate tax deal. After nearly a decade of talks, it is a remarkably bold plan. But expectations of a massive tax windfall are misplaced.
空前的。地震般的。改变世界的。七国集团(G7)财长们在欢呼上周六达成的公司税协议时，纷纷使用最高级形容词。经过近10年的谈判，这是一份相当果敢的计划。但是，对巨额税收收入的预期是错误的。
The accord has two components. One aims to address the race to the bottom on tax rates by imposing a global minimum corporation tax on large companies. The second component would require the largest, most profitable companies to pay more tax in countries where they make their sales. A fifth of their global profits above a 10 per cent profit margin would be reallocated in this way.
该协议有两个组成部分。一是通过对大公司规定全球最低公司税来解决“税率逐底竞争”的问题。二是要求规模最大、利润最高的公司在其实现销售的国家缴纳更多税款。利润率超过10%的这类公司，将需要以这种方式重新分配其五分之一的全球利润。
Big companies should be braced for higher tax bills. But by how much? Some big numbers are doing the rounds. EU multinationals would have to pay about €50bn or 15 per cent more in taxes globally, according to the Paris-based EU Tax Observatory. Similarly, the UK would collect an extra £7.9bn, according to the IPPR think-tank.
大公司应该准备好迎接更高的税单。但是会高出多少呢？人们在谈论一些大数字。根据总部位于巴黎的欧盟税务观察(EU Tax Observatory)的数据，欧盟跨国公司将不得不在全球范围多缴纳约500亿欧元的税款，即缴税提高15%。类似地，根据英国智库——公共政策研究所(IPPR)的估算，英国政府将获得额外79亿英镑的税收收入。
