四级阅读：股神巴菲特呼吁向美国富豪加税

　　Billionaire Warren Buffett urged U.S. lawmakers to raise taxes on the country's super-rich to help cut the budget deficit, saying such a move will not hurt investments.

　　亿万富翁沃伦•巴菲特近日呼吁美国立法者向美国富豪增税，以帮助削减预算赤字，并表示此举并不会打击投资热情。

　　The 80-year-old accused Congress of being 'billionaire friendly' and claimed in an opinion article for the New York Times that they spared him and his rich friends when talking about a 'shared sacrifice'.来源：上考试大网校，考试轻松过关

　　80岁的巴菲特指责国会“善待亿万富翁”，并在《纽约时报》上撰写评论文章称，在谈及“共同做出牺牲”时，国会对他和他的富豪朋友们过度宽容。

　　He said: "Our leaders have asked for 'shared sacrifice'. But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched. My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice."

　　他说：“我们的领导者们要求共同做出牺牲，但付诸实施时，却放过了我。我向富豪朋友们求证会损失多少，但他们也都毫发未损。国会过于善待亿万富翁，我和我的富豪朋友们一直都被溺爱着。政府现在应该严肃对待共同牺牲这回事儿了。”

　　Buffett, one of the world's richest men and chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said his federal tax bill last year was $6,938,744.

　　巴菲特称自己去年向联邦政府缴税693万8744美元。他是世界上最富有的人之一，同时掌管伯克希尔•哈撒韦公司。

　　"That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 per cent of my taxable income - and that's actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office.Their tax burdens ranged from 33 per cent to 41 per cent and averaged 36 per cent," he said.

　　他说：“听起来好像是一大笔钱。但那只占了我应税收入的17.4%，甚至低于我办公室里的其他20名员工。他们的税收负担在33%到41%之间，平均36%。”

　　Lawmakers engaged in a partisan battle over spending and taxes for more than three months before agreeing on August 2 to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling, avoiding a U.S. Default.

　　此前，立法者们陷入党派斗争，为支出和税收足足吵了三个多月，直到8月2日才达成协议，上调14.3万亿美元的债务上限，避免了美债违约。

　　Mr Buffett said: "Americans are rapidly losing faith in the ability of Congress to deal with our country's fiscal problems.Only action that is immediate, real and very substantial will prevent that doubt from morphing into hopelessness."

　　巴菲特说：“美国民众对国会应对国家财政问题能力的信心正迅速流失。只有立即采取切实有效的行动，才能避免这种质疑变成绝望。”

　　He said higher taxes for the rich will not discourage investment and cited the example of the eighties when rates were much higher."Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack."

　　他以上世纪80年代为例，那时税率比现在高得多，但并没有抑制投资。“20世纪80年代和90年代时，富人的税率要比现在高得多，我的税率也就是中等水平。”