Name: 賀錦麗和川普的「免小費」政策為何引發爭議？ (Why Harris and Trump’s ‘No Tax on Tips’ Policy Is So Controversial | WSJ)
Uploaded: 2024-09-11T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 5 min 28 s

We are going to not charge taxes on tips, people making tips.

我們將不對小費和賺取小費的人徵稅。

And eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.

並取消對服務和接待人員的小費徵稅。

程度副詞

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are both campaigning on this idea of cutting taxes on tips, which many policy experts say violates some pretty basic principles of economic theory, some pretty basic principles of tax policy.

前總統唐納川普和副總統賀錦麗在競選中都提出了削減小費稅的主張，但許多政策專家認為，這違反了經濟理論的一些基本原則和稅收政策的一些基本原則。

I think you'd be really hard-pressed to find a professional economist who would say that this policy is well-designed.

我想你很難找到一個專業經濟學家會說這項政策設計得很好。

Experts warn this policy could help employers more than workers, increase the federal budget deficit, and even accelerate tipping culture.

專家警告說，這項政策對僱主的幫助可能會超過對工人的幫助，會增加聯邦預算赤字，甚至會加速小費文化的形成。

Right now, tips are treated as income and are subject to federal income, state, and payroll taxes.

目前，小費被視為收入，需要繳納聯邦所得稅、州稅和工資稅。

Income taxes are what we think of as your taxes, the federal tax return, the 1040s.

所得稅就是我們常說的納稅、聯邦報稅表、1040 表格。

Payroll taxes go toward Social Security and Medicare.

工資稅用於社會保障和醫療保險。

The Trump campaign hasn't released the details of its plan yet.

川普競選團隊尚未公佈其計劃的細節。

The Harris campaign says its policy would only exempt tips from income tax.

賀錦麗競選團隊表示，其政策只對小費免徵所得稅。

This could be $100, $150 billion over a decade, which is not the largest tax break out there.

在十年內，這可能是 1,000 億至 1,500 億美元，這並不是最大的減稅。

There's certainly plenty of other things that are just as large.

當然，還有很多其他東西也同樣巨大。

But we're in a situation where the U.S. is running regular deficits these days, and there's a lot of concern about the country's fiscal future.

但現在的情況是，美國經常出現赤字，人們對國家的財政前景十分擔憂。

Both candidates are pushing this tax policy to try to win Nevada, a swing state with the highest concentration of tipped workers.

兩位候選人都在推行這一稅收政策，試圖贏得內華達州這一小費工人最集中的搖擺州。

When I'm president, you are the ones I will be fighting for, and I'll be fighting for you very hard every single day.

當我成為總統後，我將為你們而戰，我每天都將為你們而努力奮鬥。

But this policy would only be available to about 3% of the U.S. workforce, or roughly 4 million people.

但這一政策只適用於大約 3% 的美國勞動力，即大約 400 萬人。

And not even everyone in that 3% would actually benefit, because more than a third of tipped workers earn so little that they already don't pay federal income taxes.

而且，即使是這 3% 的人也不會真正受益，因為超過三分之一的小費工人收入微薄，已經不用繳納聯邦所得稅。

The standard deduction is the amount of money that you can make without having to pay any taxes at all.

標準扣除額是你無需繳納任何稅款即可賺取的金額。

For 2024, it's $14,600 for an individual and $29,200 for a married couple.

2024 年，個人為 14 600 美元，已婚夫婦為 29 200 美元。

Tipped workers are also more likely to be teenagers and young adults under 25.

小費工人也更有可能是青少年和 25 歲以下的年輕人。

I think a lot of people rightly feel a lot of sympathy and support for people who work in what are hard, grueling jobs in the service industries.

我認為，很多人理所當然地對那些在服務行業從事艱苦、辛苦工作的人表示同情和支持。

The problem is the policy in practice, it won't achieve what I think we would like it to.

問題在於政策的實際執行，它不會達到我認為我們希望達到的效果。

One of the issues economists have with the policy is that it would create unfair imbalances among low-wage workers.

經濟學家對這一政策提出的一個問題是，它將在低工資工人中造成不公平的不平衡。

One of the ways to make taxes fair is to make sure that people of the same income level are paying approximately the same amount of taxes.

使稅收公平的方法之一是確保相同收入水平的人繳納大致相同的稅額。

And in this case, you really wouldn't be doing that.

而在這種情況下，你真的不能這麼做。

So, for example, if you took a delivery worker who delivered food, they'd probably get tips, and so they would qualify for this tax benefit.

舉例來說，如果你找一個送外賣的送餐員，他們很可能會得到小費，他們就有資格享受這項稅收優惠。

If you took a delivery worker who delivered packages, they usually don't, so they wouldn't get a tax benefit.

如果你把送包裹的送貨員當作送貨員，他們通常不會送包裹，所以他們也不會享受稅收優惠。

But I can't think of a good reason why you would want to give a tax break to the person who delivers food, but not to the person who delivers mail.

但我想不出一個好理由，為什麼要給送食物的人減稅，而不給送郵件的人減稅。

Tipped workers represent a small percentage of those earning hourly wages, so the majority of low-wage workers wouldn't benefit from this tax cut.

小費工人只佔時薪工人的一小部分，所以大多數低薪工人不會從此次減稅中受益。

Some experts say employers would actually stand to gain the most from this policy.

一些專家表示，僱主實際上將從這項政策中獲益最多。

Right now, employers are required by law to pay tipped workers $2.13 an hour in wages.

目前，法律規定僱主必須向小費工人支付每小時 2.13 美元的工資。

But if workers don't earn enough in tips to get them to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, the employer has to pay the difference.

但是，如果工人賺取的小費不足以達到每小時 7.25 美元的聯邦最低工資標準，僱主就必須支付差額。

This would basically be a subsidy for that part of tipped workers' income.

這基本上是對小費工人這部分收入的補貼。

If you create this subsidy, what you do is reduce the pressure to raise wages.

如果設立這種補貼，就會減少提高工資的壓力。

It would push more of the responsibility for paying people for the work they do onto the customers directly rather than the employers who are supposed to be footing those bills.

這將把支付工作報酬的責任更多地直接推給客戶，而不是本應承擔這些帳單的僱主。

This leads to another concern, that it would result in a culture of even more tipping.

這就引出了另一個問題，即這會導致更多的小費文化。

According to a bank rate survey, many Americans view tipping negatively, and 35% think tipping culture has gotten out of control.

根據銀行利率調查，許多美國人對小費持負面看法，35% 的人認為小費文化已經失控。

Many policy experts worry this tax break would incentivize other industries to adopt a tipped model.

許多政策專家擔心，這種稅收減免會刺激其他行業採用小費模式。

When you give someone a tax break for something, you're really encouraging that part of the economy, right?

當你給某個人減稅時，你就是在鼓勵這部分經濟，對嗎？

And as a rule, I don't think we really want to encourage people's wages to be based on things like tips.

而且，作為一項規則，我認為我們並不希望鼓勵人們的工資建立在小費之類的基礎上。

There's so many ways that we could be helping people in the service industry, and this seems more like a soundbite.

我們有很多方法可以幫助服務行業的人們，而這似乎更像是一個口號。

There's also some concern among economists that higher-income professionals like hedge fund managers and lawyers could structure their compensation in ways to try to take advantage of this tax break.

還有一些經濟學家擔心，對沖基金經理和律師等高收入專業人士可能會在薪酬結構上試圖利用這一稅收減免。

The Harris campaign says its policy would include income limits to avoid these types of abuses.

賀錦麗競選團隊表示，其政策將包括收入限制，以避免此類濫用。

The Trump campaign hasn't said if its plan will include these types of guardrails.

川普競選團隊尚未透露其計劃中是否會包括此類護欄。

Despite these red flags, this idea is gaining momentum in Congress.

儘管存在這些問題，但這一想法在國會的勢頭卻越來越猛。

I intend this coming week to introduce legislation exempting tips from federal income tax.

我打算在下週提出立法，免除小費的聯邦所得稅。

Senator Ted Cruz's bill has no income cutoff and would provide a 100% deduction on federal income taxes for any earnings from tips.

參議員特德-克魯茲的法案不設收入上限，任何小費收入均可在聯邦所得稅中獲得 100%的扣除。

I certainly wouldn't expect this legislation to pass standalone.

我當然不會指望這項立法能單獨通過。

I think you might see it slip into a larger tax bill, and one of those is going to be on the table.

我認為，你可能會看到它滑入一個更大的稅收法案，其中之一將被擺上桌面。

Until a couple of months ago, this was a very low-profile idea, not something that candidates or lawmakers were really talking about.

直到幾個月前，這還是一個非常低調的想法，並不是候選人或立法者真正談論的話題。

But now that you've got Vice President Harris and Donald Trump talking about it, it's got that kind of bipartisan agreement, we'll push this forward.

但現在賀錦麗副總統和唐納川普都在談論這件事，兩黨已經達成一致，我們將推動這件事向前發展。

We'll put it on the table in some way in 2025.

我們將在 2025 年以某種方式把它擺上桌面。

It's maybe not the most, you know, pristine, academically grounded kind of policy, but it's a campaign.

這也許不是最純潔、最有學術基礎的政策，但這是一場運動。