For whom the taxman cometh

　　托福阅读材料：税从哪里来?

　　The share of Americans who pay federal income tax

　　美国人缴纳联邦所得税的比例 Toefl

　　IN REMARKS at a fund-raising event earlier this year, Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president, claimed that 47% of Americans pay no federal income tax. According to the Tax Policy Center, he is largely correct, as the chart on the left shows. But most Americans do pay federal taxes of some sort, such as payroll taxes, and nearly all pay sales taxes. The increase in the number of people who do not pay federal income tax is largely due to efforts by both Republicans and Democrats to lower the tax burden of low-income workers. In 1986, for example, Ronald Reagan bragged that as a result of his tax reforms "millions of working poor will be completely dropped from the tax rolls". Mr Romney believes there is a sense of victimhood and dependency amongst the non-payers. But the Republican nominee should take care in disparaging this portion of the electorate. In 2008 the Tax Foundation found that many of those who do not pay federal income tax live in states that tend to vote Republican.

　　今年早些时候，在一次筹款活动中，获共和党总统提名的米特·罗姆尼声称，47%的美国人不用缴纳联邦所得税。正如下面左表所示，据税收政策中心，很大程度上罗姆尼所言不虚。不过，大多数美国人的确以某种形式缴纳联邦税，比如工资税，并且几乎人人缴纳销售税。不用缴纳联邦所得税的人数在增加，这在很大程度上归功于共和党和民主党减少低收入工作者税收负担的举措。比方说，1986年，罗纳德·里根自夸称由于他的税收改革，“数以百万计的贫穷工作者完全不再需要交税”。罗姆尼认为那些不交税者有一种受害与依赖感。不过共和党提名人在贬低这部分选民问题上应当注意。2008年，税收基金会发现，那些不用缴纳联邦所得税的人很多都生活在倾向于支持共和党的州。