听考研真题|2020年英一阅读4:法国开创数字服务税先河

Last Thursday, the French Senate passed a digital services tax, which would impose an entirely new tax on large multinationals that provide digital services to consumers or users in France. 

【生词】multinational adj.多国的, 跨国的; n.跨国公司

【翻译】上周四，法国参议院通过了一项数字服务税法案；该法案将对向法国境内消费者或用户提供数字服务的大型跨国公司征收一项全新的税款。

Digital services include everything from providing a platform for selling goods and services online to targeting advertising based on user data, and the tax applies to gross revenue from such services. 

【生词】gross adj.总的，毛的, n.总收入

【翻译】数字服务涵盖范围广泛，从提供在线销售商品和服务的平台，到基于用户数据进行定向广告投放；该税项适用于此类服务所产生的总营收。

Many French politicians and media outlets have referred to this as a “GAFA tax,”meaning that it is designed to apply primarily to companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon—in other words, multinational tech companies based in the United States.

【生词】outlet n.经销店, 专营店, 排放管，出口, 媒介

【翻译】许多法国政界人士和媒体将这项税收称为“ GAFA 税”，意指该税种主要适用于谷歌、苹果、Facebook和亚马逊等企业——换言之，即总部位于美国的跨国科技公司。

The digital services tax now awaits the signature of President Emmanuel Macron, who has expressed support for the measure, and it could go into effect within the next few weeks.

But it has already sparked significant controversy, with the United States trade representative opening an investigation into whether the tax discriminates against American companies, which in turn could lead to trade sanctions against France.

【生词】sanction n.批准, 认可,制裁, 约束力; v.实施惩罚

【翻译】然而，此事已引发重大争议——美国贸易代表已启动一项调查，旨在查明该项税收政策是否对美国企业存在歧视性对待；而这一调查结果可能进而导致对法国实施贸易制裁。

The French tax is not just a unilateral move by one country in need of revenue.  

【生词】unilateral adj.单边的，一方的, 单方有义务的, 片面的,

【翻译】法国的这项税收政策并非仅是某个需要增加财政收入的国家所采取的单边举措。

Instead, the digital services tax is part of a much larger trend, with countries over the past few years proposing or putting in place an alphabet soup of new international tax provisions.  

【生词】an alphabet soup of 数量繁多、名称各异的

【翻译】实际上，数字服务税是更广泛趋势的一部分——近年来，各国纷纷提出或实施了数量繁多、名称各异的新国际税收条款。

They have included Britain’s DPT (diverted profits tax), Australia’s MAAL (multinational anti-avoidance law), and India’s SEP (significant economic presence) test, to name but a few.  

At the same time, the European Union, Spain, Britain and several other countries have all seriously contemplated digital services taxes.

【生词】contemplate v.深思，细想，仔细考虑

【翻译】与此同时，欧盟、西班牙、英国及其他若干国家均认真考虑过征收数字服务税。

These unilateral developments differ in their specifics, but they are all designed to tax multinationals on income and revenue that countries believe they should have a right to tax, even if international tax rules do not grant them that right. 

【生词】grant n.拨款; v.授予, 承认, 允许

【翻译】这些单边税收政策在具体实施方式上各不相同，但它们的共同目的在于对跨国公司应课税的所得和营业收入征税——即各国认为其有权对这些收入和营业收入征税，即便国际税收规则并未赋予其此项征税权。

In other words, they all share a view that the international tax system has failed to keep up with the current economy.

【翻译】换言之，他们均认为，现行国际税收体系已无法适应当前的经济形势。

In response to these many unilateral measures, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is currently working with 131 countries to reach a consensus by the end of 2020 on an international solution. 

【生词】consensus n.共识，一致看法

【翻译】为应对这些众多单边措施，经济合作与发展组织（OECD）目前正与131个国家携手合作，力争在2020年底前就一项国际性解决方案达成共识。

Both France and the United States are involved in the organization's work, but France's digital services tax and the American response raise questions about what the future holds for the international tax system.

France’s planned tax is a clear warning: Unless a broad consensus can be reached on reforming the international tax system, other nations are likely to follow suit, and American companies will face a cascade of different taxes from dozens of nations that will prove burdensome and costly.

【翻译】法国拟实施的这项税收政策发出了一个明确的警告：若无法就改革国际税收体系达成广泛共识，其他国家很可能效仿此举；届时，美国企业将面临来自数十个国家的连串不同税种的征税压力，这将带来沉重的负担和高昂的成本。