经济学人:愤怒"鸽派"逼宫 法国政府尴尬减税

 　　France’s government and business

　　法国政府和商业

　　Angry pigeons

　　愤怒的鸽子

　　An online revolt forces the government into an embarrassing tax climbdown

　　在线的抗议活动迫使政府陷入税收让步的窘境

　　Usually it takes millions of demonstrators on the streets to force a French government to back down. This time it took just 65,000 supporters of a social media campaign. Calling themselves les pigeons, or “suckers”, French entrepreneurs mounted an online revolt last week against the government’s plan to double capital-gains tax to some 60%. In an embarrassing climbdown just days later, Pierre Moscovici, the finance minister, announced he would think again.

　　在通常情况下，几百万的群众在大街上进行抗议游行才会迫使政府为此做出让步。但是这次只有65000名在社交网站上自称“鸽子”，意为“傻瓜”支持者就完成了此项壮举。那是由法国企业家所发起的一次网上抗议活动，用来反抗上周对资本利得税翻倍至升至60%的政府法案。几天后政府窘迫的做出了一个让步，社会党人——财政部长 Pierre Moscovici,宣布，他将会就此作出讨论。

　　These indignés of the start-up generation, protesting not at capitalism¹ but at the Socialist² government’s plans to limit their ability to make lots of money, were inspired by a newspaper article by Jean-David Chamboredon, a venture capitalist, denouncing new rules in the 2013 budget. In line with a campaign promise by Francois Hollande, the Socialist president, to tax “work and capital” equally, the budget taxes all financial income—whether from interest, dividends³ or capital gains—at top marginal rates for higher-band earners.

　　对于愤怒的创业一代来说，这一系列的抗议行为反抗的并不是资本主义本身，而是对社会党政府的计划经济限制了他们赚取更多的财富感到不满。而这一切都是受到了一位风险资本家——Jean-David Chamboredon刊登在报纸上的一篇文章鼓动，他公开强烈谴责了2013年的政府预算报告中的新规定。社会党Francois Hollande竞选时承诺对劳资双方平等征税，与此承诺相符的是，预算对利息、股息或资本利得等各项金融所得进行征税，而征税范围越广泛，边际税率越高。

　　The article touched a raw nerve. A Facebook page was created, as was the Twitter hashtag #geonpi, French slang for pigeon, and the revolt went viral. “I’ve never seen people so depressed⁴. They’ve had enough, they are leaving,” warned Marc Simoncini, an internet entrepreneur. The “pigeons” begged the government to understand that when an entrepreneur invests his money and hard work in a start-up and then sells it, that investment is not quite the same as the “sleeping capital” in shares that the government wants to tax so heavily.

　　这篇文章触发了人们的脆弱神经。人们甚至在Facebook和Twitter上建立了相关页面（在后者的标签为“#geonpi”，意为法语俚语中的鸽子），反对之声铺天盖地。跨国企业家Marc Simoncini说警告说：“我从未见过人们如此沮丧，他们似乎受够了，正准备离开”。那群“鸽子们”希望政府们能理解企业家们筚路蓝缕后出售家业。而这些投资并不像那些“沉睡资本”，但是政府却想对这一部分征税。

　　Mr Moscovici now says that he will lighten the burden on capital gains for entrepreneurs, though he has ruled out altering his plans to tax capital and work equally. “What we want to tax isn’t risk, but rent,” he insisted. The plan, still under debate, is to revert⁵ to the previous tax rate, but only if an entrepreneur holds on to his business for, say, five years.

　　但是Moscovici称他将资本利得上的的负担，尽管他要拒绝修改税收征管计划，他坚称：“我们的征税对象并非风险，而是租金”。而现在，这项备受争议的计划将要回到过去的税率水平，但其前提是企业家们持续经营达到约五年时间。

　　Had the fiscal⁶ revolt been led by established employers’ groups, it might have been dismissed as special pleading. The government was not much impressed by bosses who argued that the new 75% top income-tax rate was a disaster. But the pigeon movement captured the imagination thanks to its spontaneity, its grass-roots nature and its youth. The biggest single age-group backing the movement on Facebook was 25- to 34-year-olds.

　　而这次抗议活动如果是由那些商业巨头们领导的，可能会被当做一场特殊的请愿而被驳回。而目前，当企业家们认为最高达75%的所得税率对于他们来说是场灾难的时候，政府却对此不以为然。但是这场“鸽子运动”却因其自发性,草根性以及年轻化引起了政府的注意。多为25~34岁的个人在Facebook支持此项运动。

　　The French, who gave the English language the word “entrepreneur”, are deeply ambivalent⁷ about business. In popularity polls, they seldom cite any businessmen. School textbooks rarely portray⁸ companies favourably⁹. The angry pigeons may help win entrepreneurs more sympathy in France. If not, if will not be just the pigeons who are stuffed.

　　法国，这个在英语中赋予了“企业家”一词的国家，却对商业有如此复杂的情绪。在一项民意调查中，他们很少用“商人”去称呼别人。而学校的教科书上几乎没有对公司有任何的赞美之词。“愤怒的鸽子”的运动可能会使得企业家在法国获得更多的同情。不然的话，被剥削的可就不仅仅只是这些‘鸽子’了。 翻译：周颖

　　1.social media 社交网络

　　例句:We have all witnessed the power of social media.

　　我们见证了社交媒体的实力。

　　2.back down 放弃；让步

　　例句:He had to back down on plans to backdate the tax changes.

　　他不得不放弃追溯税收调整的计划。

　　3.ruled out 排除

　　例句:The possibility of suicide was ruled out.

　　自杀的可能性已被排除。

　　4.tax rate 税率

　　例句:For low-paid workers, the marginal tax rate is at least 75%.

　　对于低收入的工人来说，边际税率至少为75%。

1 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

2 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

3 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

4 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

5 revert   

v.恢复，复归，回到

参考例句：

• Let us revert to the earlier part of the chapter.让我们回到本章的前面部分。
• Shall we revert to the matter we talked about yesterday?我们接着昨天谈过的问题谈，好吗？

6 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

7 ambivalent   

adj.含糊不定的；(态度等)矛盾的

参考例句：

• She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
• Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人，然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。

8 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

9 favourably   

adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably

参考例句：

• The play has been favourably commented by the audience. 本剧得到了观众的好评。
• The open approach contrasts favourably with the exclusivity of some universities. 这种开放式的方法与一些大学的封闭排外形成了有利的对比。