美国国家公共电台 NPR What Trump's Taxes Would Not Show About His Finances

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Today's federal income tax deadline has triggered new calls for President Trump¹ to reveal his taxes as other presidents have done. Trump has repeatedly refused to do so, saying he is under an IRS audit². As NPR's Jim Zarroli reports, the returns would shed some light, but not as much as you might think.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Chanting) No more secrets.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) No more lies.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE³: This weekend, demonstrators in Palm Beach and elsewhere were once again calling on President Trump to release his tax returns. The president's critics say that before he makes any changes in the tax code, Americans deserve to know how he might benefit from them. And that means they need to see what's in the returns.

Noah Bookbinder is executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics⁴ in Washington.

NOAH BOOKBINDER: When he has tweeted out the pictures of his tax returns, it's stacks of paper that are inches and maybe feet high. It's many hundreds of pages. So just - just there, you know that there's a lot of information.

ZARROLI: Information about how much Trump makes, his charitable giving and the deductions⁵ and loopholes he takes advantage of. They could also help show how much money he makes overseas.

But Lee Sheppard, contributing editor at Tax Notes, says there's a lot that won't be in the returns.

LEE SHEPPARD: A tax return is not an all-purpose financial-disclosure document in the United States.

ZARROLI: Sheppard says much of Trump's income appears to come from licensing⁶ agreements, leasing out his name to sell real estate and luxury goods. The returns will say how much he earned and the name of the partnership⁷ paying him, but not the identities of the partners.

They also won't say who invested in real estate projects he owns directly. Sheppard says that as a real estate developer, Trump probably has a lot of what is called non-recourse debt, loans backed not by him personally, but by the real estate project being built. The returns will show how much interest he paid on that debt, but not who lent him the money.

SHEPPARD: When the people who are griping about the tax returns say, we want to know you're beholden to, they're saying they want to know who the lenders are. That is not listed on the tax return.

ZARROLI: Sheppard says the returns probably won't reveal anything about Trump's ties to Russia and China, nor will they say anything about his true net worth. Some of this information is listed in disclosure documents filed during the campaign last year, but in very general terms. Sheppard says to find out more about the president's finances would probably require Congress to act. But that's not likely to happen anytime soon.

Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

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 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

5 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

6 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。