Republicans have been obsessed with getting this one thing done.

共和黨員就執著於完成這一件事

Tax reform.

稅制改革

We're going to have a phenomenal tax reform.

我們將展開大規模的稅制改革

They've passed a bill, the President has signed it,

他們通過了法案，總統也簽署了

so let's break down what's actually going to change.

讓我們來看看有那些事將會改變吧！

Imagine that instead of getting paid in dollars,

想像今天你的薪水不是發現金

you got paid in cereal.

而是給你麥片

The government takes a certain amount of cereal in taxes.

政府用稅收拿走一定數量的麥片

And it uses it to pay other people to do things

然後用這些麥片去支付別人做事

build roads, fly fighter jets, do research.

鋪路，開戰鬥機，做研究

You get the picture.

你懂的

The more you earn, the bigger the share of your cereal the government takes.

你的收入越高，政府就拿走越多的麥片

Sometimes the government wants to incentivize you to do certain things with your cereal.

有時候政府會想要激勵你用你的麥片去做某些特定的事

Like if you buy a house for a hundred pieces of cereal,

例如如果你用一百個麥片買了一棟房子

and then sell it for 200 pieces of cereal,

然後用 200 個麥片的價格賣掉

you'd normally have to pay capital gains taxes on that profit.

一般來說，你的獲利會需要支付資本收益稅

But there's a special loophole that says you don't have to.

但是有個特別的漏洞讓你逃稅

The tax code is full of loopholes like this,

稅制中充滿了各種的漏洞

which means if everyone puts their cereal together,

也就是說，如果大家把他們的麥片集合在一起

there would be two bowls.

會分成兩個碗

One that the government dips into for taxes,

一個是政府可以課稅的

and one it doesn't.

而另一碗不能

Now, Republicans want the government to take a smaller portion.

而現在，共和黨員想要政府拿走更少的比例

And they say they want people to keep more of the cereal.

他們說他們希望人民留下更多的麥片

But if they do that, the government won't have enough cereal to pay for what it needs.

但是這麼做的話，政府就沒有足夠的麥片去支付它的所需

So part of this new law is taking some of the cereal that's not taxed,

所以這個新法案的其中一點，就是把一部份不能課稅的麥片

and change the rules so that it is taxable.

改變法條，讓它們變得可以課稅

That way, the government can take a smaller share of the cereal

如此一來，政府就可以拿走更少比例的麥片

but still pay for the stuff it needs.

但還是可以支付所需

This is what politicians mean when they talk about "broadening the tax base."

這就是政治人物所說的「擴大稅基」的意思

Here's the problem:

但問題來了：

Republicans aren't broadening the base enough.

共和黨員並沒有把稅基擴得夠大

They're taking a lot less cereal from people

他們從人民拿了更少的麥片

and adding some new taxable cereal

然後加了一些新的可課稅的麥片

but not enough to pay for what the government needs.

但是加得不夠多，仍然不夠支付政府支出

To pay for that stuff, the government is going to have to go into debt.

為了要支付那些項目，政府就必須要舉債

This means they're going to have to take even more cereal, years in the future,

這意味著在未來的幾年，他們要拿更多的麥片

to pay back the debt they're taking out now.

以支付他們現在的債務

Republicans think this will help grow

共和黨員認為這能幫助增加

the total amount of cereal available to both tax payers and the government.

納稅人與政府的總麥片量

So what happens to that 1.5 trillion dollar gap?

至於那 1.5 兆美元的空缺呢？

It goes back into people's bowls,

這些錢回到了人民的碗中

but not everyone gets the same share.

但不是每個人都拿到等量的回饋

If you break the population into five equally sized groups

如果你把人口分成五個等量的群組

based on how much they earned in 2017

依照他們在 2017 的收入

and look at how much each group will earn in 2018,

然後看看他們在 2018 會有多少收入

every group does get a tax cut.

每一組的確都有減稅

But fast forward ten years,

但是往前快轉十年

and you can see that lower and middle class Americans

你可以看到中低階層的美國人

will actually pay more since their tax cuts aren't permanent.

事實上付了更多的稅，因為他們的減稅不是永久的

And if you break that top group into smaller groups

如果你把最高收入的人拆成更小的組

you can see the very wealthiest benefit most of all.

你可以看到最富有的人，得到了最多的優惠

So while this new law does close some loopholes to bring in new tax revenue,

所以雖然這個新法的確減少了一些漏洞來增加稅收

the bill's larger purpose is to realize the Republican vision of a fairer tax code.

這個法案的主要目的，其實是要實現共和黨對公平稅制的展望

One in which the wealthiest pay a lot less.

也就是要讓最有錢的人，少付很多稅