美国国家公共电台 NPR Tax Bill Favors Adding Robots Over Workers, Critics Say

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

The tax bill that's now being crafted in Congress is huge. It's more than 400 pages. And we're going to look at two parts of it. First, Republicans call the bill the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. Critics say maybe it should be called the Tax Cut and Robots Act. That's because it doesn't create any new tax incentives² that encourage companies specifically to hire workers and create jobs, but it does expand incentives for companies to buy robots and machines that replace workers. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE³: Republicans say that lowering taxes will boost the economy and create jobs. But critics say there's this really basic imbalance. The tax bill favors buying machines over hiring workers. That doesn't seem right to Carl Pasciuto. He's the president of a high-tech⁴ manufacturing company in Woburn, Mass.

CARL PASCIUTO: I think they really need to relook at the name and add the missing component⁵ of the worker.

ARNOLD: Pasciuto's company is called the Custom Group. The factory floor here is full of machines that look kind of like enclosed ski gondolas⁶. Inside them, oil is being sprayed on blocks of metal as automated⁷ cutting tools zip around, shaping them into precision parts for nuclear submarines, jet planes, all kinds of stuff.

PASCIUTO: There's servos that drag the table to the position that it needs to be in. There's a robotic tool change mechanism⁸.

ARNOLD: There are many more machines here than actual workers, and under the emerging tax bill companies would have incentives to buy more. For one thing, they could write the full value of the equipment off their taxes right away. Pasciuto says he's definitely OK with that.

PASCIUTO: Absolutely. We're always happy to get any break we can get.

ARNOLD: But he says he actually needs well-trained workers more than he needs equipment.

PASCIUTO: We do. The equipment is readily available. The workforce⁹ isn't.

ARNOLD: Pasciuto says he has open positions that he can't fill because he can't find the skilled workers, so he says he sometimes has to buy machines to do the work. But he says if there were a tax incentive¹ for training workers, he and other companies would definitely take advantage of it. And he says that would create more jobs.

PASCIUTO: I think that the federal government really needs to look at what they've put in the bill and even it out from an equipment side to a training side as well.

ARNOLD: And some labor¹⁰ economists¹² agree with Pasciuto. Daron Acemoglu is an economist¹¹ at MIT who researches automation and robots. He says first, automation is not a bad thing. It can increase productivity and be an important part of keeping the U.S. economy competitive. But...

DARON ACEMOGLU: The problem is when you subsidize heavily the adoption¹³ of machines instead of people.

ARNOLD: Then, he says, you're putting your thumb on the scale against workers. And he says these tax bills do that. He says, let's say that a business could buy a machine to replace three workers, but there's no great cost savings¹⁴.

ACEMOGLU: That means that machine is not a great machine. It's fine. But it's marginal.

ARNOLD: So if tax policy was neutral, the business probably wouldn't buy it. But he says even the current law favors machines, and the Republican tax bills tip the scales even more. So if you buy the machine...

ACEMOGLU: You're going to get a huge handout¹⁵ from the government.

ARNOLD: And he says these subsidies¹⁶ kill jobs when there's no good economic reason to replace workers with machines. So like Carl Pasciuto, Acemoglu would like to see incentives for hiring and training.

ACEMOGLU: To balance the scales it would be good to encourage firms to invest in their workers.

ARNOLD: Gavin Ekins is with the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation. He says it's OK that the scales are tipped towards machines.

GAVIN EKINS: In the long run, it's better for the economy.

ARNOLD: Ekins says, look. Some machines kill jobs, but some create jobs. If you buy a backhoe, for instance, people have to build it and someone has to drive it. Also, he says, there wasn't time to devise good incentives for training workers in this legislation. But he does agree with Acemoglu on one thing. The House version of the tax bill would drastically raise taxes on many graduate students and workers who get free tuition. And in an economy that needs a better skilled workforce...

EKINS: Taxing the benefit of getting a free education, this is something that really shouldn't be taxed.

ARNOLD: Ekins hopes the Senate version wins out on that point. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

1 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

2 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

5 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

6 gondolas   

n.狭长小船( gondola的名词复数 )；货架（一般指商店，例如化妆品店）；吊船工作台

参考例句：

• When the G-Force is in motion, the gondolas turn as well. 当“惊呼狂叫”开始旋转时，平底船也同时旋转。 来自互联网
• Moreton Engineering &Equipment Co. Ltd. -Services include sales tower crane, gondolas, material hoist construction equipment. 山明模型工作室-制作建筑模型，包括售楼模型、规划模型、比赛模型等。 来自互联网

7 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

8 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

9 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

12 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

14 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

15 handout   

n.散发的文字材料；救济品

参考例句：

• I read the handout carefully.我仔细看了这份分发的资料。
• His job was distributing handout at the street-corner.他的工作是在街头发传单。

16 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》