《中英對照讀新聞》Depardieu joins long list of French tax exiles─影星德巴狄厄加入長串法國避稅者行列

《中英對照讀新聞》Depardieu joins long list of French tax exiles─影星德巴狄厄加入長串法國避稅者行列

2013-01-13

◎俞智敏

A tax exile row between millionaire movie star Gerard Depardieu and the Socialist government of President Francois Hollande hides a much older problem with French taxes.

百萬富翁影星傑哈．德巴狄厄和法國總統歐蘭德所領導的社會黨政府之間的避稅爭議，其實隱藏著法國稅務政策的更長久問題。

To be sure, Hollande’s headline-grabbing 75 percent income tax band may well be prompting well-off French to consider lives as exiles in Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland or Britain.

無疑地，歐蘭德所提出的75%所得稅率不但引起媒體高度關注，更導致許多法國富人考慮搬到比利時、盧森堡、瑞士或英國等國避稅。

But in moving to Belgium, Depardieu, like thousands before him, is only rebelling against far more entrenched French tax rules built up over decades by governments of all political stripes and which the exiles argue punish talent and effort.

但決定搬到比利時的德巴狄厄，跟在他之前的數千人一樣，其實都是在對抗更根深柢固的法國稅務法，這些法律是由各黨派政府歷經數十年時間所制訂，避稅者認為這種法律只是在懲罰有天份又努力工作的人。

For some champions of business, entertainment and finance, the fact that they can pay much less in neighbouring countries has won the day over national solidarity.

對某些商界、娛樂界和金融業鉅子而言，只要搬到鄰近國家就可以大幅減少繳交稅款的事實，終究戰勝了民族團結心。

Yet while the wealth tax was introduced by Hollande’s Socialist mentor Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s, it really began to bite when conservative former prime minister Alain Juppe removed upper limits on total wealth tax bills in 1997.

但儘管富人稅是由歐蘭德的社會黨前輩密特朗總統於1980年代所引進，卻是到保守派前總理居沛任內才真正開始產生影響，因為居沛於1997年刪除了富人稅法案的課稅上限。

新聞辭典

tax exile：名詞，指為了避免繳交稅款而避居低稅率國家的避稅者，如The island is a haven for tax exiles.（這個小島是避稅者的天堂。）

win the day：成功說服別人支持其想法或意見，如We believe that truth and justice will win the day.（我們相信真相和正義終將戰勝一切。）

bite：動詞，（主要為英式用法），產生負面影響，如With the recession starting to bite, many government-funded programs have had to be eliminated.（由於經濟衰退帶來的痛苦影響，許多原本由政府資助的計畫都被迫刪除。）