分析：跨國公司稅負低于10年前

Big multinationals are paying significantly lower tax rates than before the 2008 financial crisis, according to Financial Times analysis showing that a decade of government efforts to cut deficits and reform taxes has left the corporate world largely unscathed.

英國《金融時報》的分析顯示，大型跨國公司如今承擔的稅率比2008年金融危機前低得多，政府10年來努力削減赤字和改革稅收基本對企業(yè)界毫發(fā)無傷。

Companies’ effective tax rates — the proportion of profits that they expect to pay, as stated in their accounts — have fallen 9 per cent (two percentage points) since the financial crisis. This is in spite of a concerted political push to tackle aggressive avoidance.

盡管各國政府在政治上采取了協(xié)調措施來應對激進的避稅行為，企業(yè)的實際稅率——它們在賬目中列出的預期繳納的利潤比例——自金融危機以來已下降了9%(2個百分點)。

Governments’ cuts to their headline corporate tax rates only explain around half the overall fall, suggesting multinationals are still outpacing attempts to tighten tax collection.

政府削減總體企業(yè)稅率僅能解釋企業(yè)稅率總下降幅度的一半，這表明跨國公司仍然跑在了政府收緊征稅措施努力的前面。

Drawing on 25 years of financial statements, the FT examined the tax rates paid by the world’s 10 biggest public companies by market capitalisation in each of nine sectors. The tax rates reported by the 10 multinationals with the largest offshore cash piles were also examined.

根據(jù)25年的財務報表，英國《金融時報》考察了9個行業(yè)按市值計算全球十大上市公司支付的稅率。英國《金融時報》還考察了10家擁有最大規(guī)模離岸現(xiàn)金儲備的跨國公司報告的稅率。

The results show that the corporate contribution to public finances has fallen since 2008 as a proportion of profits — whether measured by headline rates, reported effective rates, or the rates actually paid to governments. Rules allowing companies to delay when some taxes are paid mean reported effective rates and actual amounts paid can vary substantially in a given year.

結果表明，自2008年以來，從占利潤的比例來看，企業(yè)對公共財政的貢獻下降了——無論是以總體稅率、企業(yè)報告的實際稅率，還是以實際繳納給政府的稅款計算的稅率衡量。允許企業(yè)延遲繳納某些稅款的規(guī)定意味著，企業(yè)報告的實際稅率與其實際納稅稅率在某一年份可能有很大差異。

The longer-term trend is even more pronounced, with effective reported corporate tax rates falling nearly one-third since 2000, from 34 per cent to 24 per cent.

從長期看更加明顯，自2000年以來，企業(yè)報告的實際稅率從34%跌至24%，下降了近三分之一。

“There has been a lot of action and gestures that are very visible but the reality is different. Rate cuts and patent boxes [tax breaks for intellectual property] have been the dominant forces on corporate tax — and that reflects the continued dynamics of tax competition,” said Mihir Desai, professor of finance and law at Harvard university. “Call it a great irony or hypocrisy, but it’s one of the two.”

“有很多行動和姿態(tài)是顯而易見的，但現(xiàn)實卻不盡然。稅率降低和‘專利盒’(patent box，給予知識產(chǎn)權的稅收優(yōu)惠)一直是企業(yè)稅改革的主導力量——而這體現(xiàn)出稅收競爭的持續(xù)動力，”哈佛大學(Harvard)金融與法律教授米希爾•德賽(Mihir Desai)說。“你可以稱其為一種極大的諷刺或偽善，但二者必居其一。”

Since the financial crisis, average reported effective tax rates have fallen around 13 per cent for the largest technology and industrial companies, according to the FT’s research. They have been broadly flat in the health, consumer staples and materials sectors.

英國《金融時報》的研究顯示，自金融危機以來，最大的科技和工業(yè)企業(yè)報告的平均實際稅率下降了13%左右。在醫(yī)療、消費品和材料行業(yè)，企業(yè)的平均實際稅率則基本持平。

The results highlight how the long downward trend in corporate tax rates set by the countries that make up the OECD continued at a time when taxes on consumers and workers were rising after the financial crisis.

該研究結果突顯出，金融危機后，在消費者與工人的稅負提高的同時，經(jīng)合組織(OECD)國家制定的企業(yè)稅率的長期下降趨勢是如何持續(xù)的。

Since 2008, countries have cut headline corporate taxes by 5 per cent while governments on average have increased personal taxes by 6 per cent, according to figures from KPMG, the accountancy firm.

會計師事務所畢馬威(KPMG)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，2008年以來，各國將總體企業(yè)稅削減了5%，而政府卻將個人所得稅平均提高了6%。

“That’s the process of competition [between governments] and I can’t really ever see it stopping,” said Michael Devereux, professor of business tax at Oxford university. He said the recent US cut to its headline rate was likely to spur more tax competition between governments.

“這是(政府間)競爭的過程，我永遠也不會看到它停止，”牛津大學(Oxford)企業(yè)稅教授邁克爾•德弗羅(Michael Devereux)說。他表示，美國最近下調整體稅率，可能會激發(fā)各國政府間更多的稅收競爭。

More surprising has been the limited impact so far of a decade-long push in the OECD and G20 to simplify a web of national tax rules that enable multinationals to minimise their global tax bills.

更令人驚訝的是，10年來經(jīng)合組織與20國集團(G20)一直在努力簡化各國稅收規(guī)則網(wǎng)絡，使跨國企業(yè)能夠將全球稅收負擔降至最低，但到目前為止收效不大。

Pierre Moscovici, EU commissioner for tax, said countries were free to set their own corporate tax rates, but highlighted that international tax reform was needed. “Let’s make no mistake: the headline rate is not what triggers tax evasion and aggressive tax planning. That comes from schemes that facilitate profit shifting.”

歐盟(EU)稅務專員皮埃爾•莫斯科維奇(Pierre Moscovici)稱，各國可自行制定本國的企業(yè)稅率，但他強調有必要進行國際稅收改革。“我們不要搞錯：引發(fā)逃稅與激進稅務籌劃的不是總體稅率，而是促進利潤轉移的計劃。”

The political desire to tackle this “profit-shifting” has been given more urgency because of the light shed on corporate tax arrangements by large-scale data leaks and political inquiries into the tax affairs of tech groups such as Apple, Google and Amazon.

解決這種“利潤轉移”的政治愿望變得愈加緊迫，因為大規(guī)模的數(shù)據(jù)泄露以及對蘋果(Apple)、谷歌(Google)及亞馬遜(Amazon)等科技集團稅務的政治調查，讓人們關注企業(yè)稅收制度。

Group level accounts show many big tech companies tend to pay significantly less tax on foreign profits than the money they earn at home. The groups argue they pay all taxes legally required and some have acknowledged the need for tax reform.

企業(yè)賬目顯示，許多大型科技公司為海外利潤納的稅，往往比他們?yōu)閲鴥?nèi)利潤納的稅少得多。這些集團辯稱道，他們繳納了所有法律規(guī)定的稅款，一些人也承認有必要進行稅收改革。

National laws to implement the OECD’s 15-point action plan to cut aggressive tax avoidance — through so-called base erosion and profit shifting — are starting to come into force. Mr Devereux expects new restrictions on interest charges between countries — clamping down on inter-company loans often used by multinationals to shift profits between jurisdictions — “will show up next year [in the numbers] if it’s going to have any effect”.

經(jīng)合組織的15點行動計劃旨在減少激進的避稅行為(通過所謂的侵蝕稅基和轉移利潤)，執(zhí)行該計劃的各國法律已經(jīng)開始實施。德弗羅預計各國之間對利息費用會有新的限制，目的是打擊跨國企業(yè)經(jīng)常用來在不同司法轄區(qū)間轉移利潤的公司間貸款，“如果有作用的話，明年就會(在數(shù)字中)體現(xiàn)出來”。

Other initiatives are expected to take longer before they show up in corporate results.

其它措施預計需要更長時間才能在企業(yè)的財報中有所顯現(xiàn)。

The gap between companies’ reporting of what they expect to pay in tax, and the actual payments as revealed by cash transfers, has also grown because of anomalies in the tax system that encouraged some US companies to park cash or profits overseas during this period.

企業(yè)報告的預計納稅額與現(xiàn)金轉移所揭示的實際納稅額之間的差距也有所擴大，因為扭曲的稅收制度鼓勵一些美國企業(yè)在此期間將現(xiàn)金或利潤存放在海外。

By the end of last year US companies had built up almost $2.6tn in untaxed cash held offshore, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy.

美國稅收與經(jīng)濟政策研究所(Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，截至去年年底，美國企業(yè)在海外已積累了近2.6萬億美元的未納稅現(xiàn)金。

The US overhauled its tax rules in December, hitting companies’ offshore cash with a 15.5 per cent one-off levy. It also lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent. The one-off levy could net Washington about $400bn in tax revenues but will also save companies up to $500bn compared to the headline corporate tax rate that applied when the profits were earned, the FT estimates.

去年12月，美國對其稅收規(guī)則進行了全面改革，以15.5%的一次性征稅打擊企業(yè)的離岸現(xiàn)金。美國還將企業(yè)稅率從35%降至21%。英國《金融時報》估計，一次性征稅可能為華盛頓方面帶來約4000億美元的稅收，但與利潤產(chǎn)生時適用的企業(yè)稅率相比，這也將為企業(yè)節(jié)省高達5000億美元的稅款。