密歇根新闻广播 特朗普的税收计划对所有人都是一场灾难

 

This week's elections are over, and Republicans did badly. GOP leaders are now saying openly that they need to pass a tax bill or face losing the House of Representatives next year.

Listen Listening...

Well, a year can be a long time in politics.

Thirty-five years ago, in Ronald Reagan's first mid-term election, Democrats¹ made huge gains, and the experts predicted Reagan might be a one-term president. Instead, two years later, he won 49 of the 50 states.

So you never can tell. But I am more interested in what President Trump²'s tax bill would mean for all of us. So I turned to Economics Professor Charles Ballard at Michigan State, a man who for many years has specialized³ in the Michigan economy.

I asked him to analyze⁴ the plan for me.

Economics is a complex subject, and economists⁵ are famous for qualifying their predictions. But Ballard wasn't hesitant. He believes the President's tax plan would be an unmitigated disaster for the state, the nation, and for every economic group except the super-rich.

"The first thing to say is that we shouldn't even be talking about a tax cut now, with the economy at or near full-employment," Ballard told me.

Now, there just isn't a big reservoir of unemployed⁶ workers.

"From a macroeconomic perspective, this is just bad policy," he said, principally because we are getting to the point where the long-term federal debt is beginning to be a cause for serious concern. The federal or national debt first reached a trillion dollars in 1969. It is $20 trillion now, and is projected to reach $23.6 trillion in five years.

Trump's tax plan, as it now stands, would add another $1.5 trillion.

"I am concerned about the amount of debt we are leaving to our children and grandchildren," Ballard told me.

But what about the tax plan's effect on regular Michiganders? Professor Ballard calculated its effects on two married couples. One with a taxable income of a million dollars a year, which doesn't include most of the folks at my dry cleaners.

That lucky couple would get a Trump tax cut of just under $29,000. Then let's consider a couple with a taxable income of $40,000. They would see an actual tax increase of about $800 a year. True, some families in this bracket might not see their taxes rise, because of proposed increases in other exemptions⁷.

But Ballard said, "the notion that this [plan] is tilted⁸ towards average families is ridiculous." He added that this is even less good for the working poor.

"The biggest thing that could help those people would be an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit," he said.

But the plan doesn't propose that.

President Trump asserts that this tax plan will lead to a massive increase in wages, something Ballard thinks is absurd, partly because of a change in corporate⁹ culture.

Years ago, he said, many CEOs would have used a tax cut windfall for productive investments. Today, he noted¹⁰, their first instinct is to increase dividends¹¹.

The bottom line is that this would mean a huge windfall for the wealthy, and add to income inequality and the burdens of the poor. That may not make a difference to Congress, but we should at least recognize this package for what it is.

Jack¹² Lessenberry is Michigan Radio's Senior Political Analyst¹³. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

4 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

5 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

7 exemptions   

n.（义务等的）免除( exemption的名词复数 )；免（税）；（收入中的）免税额

参考例句：

• The exemptions for interpretive rules, policy statements, and procedural rules have just been discussed. 有关解释性规则、政策说明和程序规则的免责我们刚刚讨论过。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• A: The regulation outlines specific exemptions for some WPM. 答：该规定概述了某些木质包装材料的特定的例外情形。 来自互联网

8 tilted   

v. 倾斜的

参考例句：

• Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。

9 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

13 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。