美國(guó)總統(tǒng)拜登提議對(duì)大企業(yè)課稅以平抑通脹,惹惱亞馬遜(Amazon)創(chuàng)辦人貝佐斯(Jeff Bezos),這幾天兩度發(fā)文批評(píng)拜登誤導(dǎo)大眾。
CNBC、Business Insider報(bào)道,美國(guó)4月通脹持續(xù)徘徊40年高點(diǎn),重創(chuàng)拜登支持度。拜登14日推文稱:“想降低通脹嗎?我們應(yīng)該確保最富有的企業(yè)公平繳納稅款”。
The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet,or maybe they need to form a new Non Sequitur Board instead.Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss.Taming inflation is critical to discuss.Mushing them together is just misdirection.https://t.co/ye4XiNNc2v
—Jeff Bezos(@JeffBezos)May 14,2022
貝佐斯當(dāng)天立刻推文反擊,要求當(dāng)局新成立的不實(shí)消息委員會(huì)檢討拜登推文。貝佐斯說(shuō),討論調(diào)高企業(yè)稅沒(méi)問(wèn)題、壓抑通脹也是重要議題,但是把兩者混為一談純?yōu)椤罢`導(dǎo)”(misdirection)。
In fact,the administration tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already over-heated,inflationary economy and only Manchin saved them from themselves.Inflation is a regressive tax that most hurts the least affluent.Misdirection doesn’t help the country.https://t.co/a8cygcunEG
—Jeff Bezos(@JeffBezos)May 15,2022
15日貝佐斯再次開(kāi)炮,抨擊拜登政府才是物價(jià)暴漲的源頭。經(jīng)濟(jì)過(guò)熱的通脹環(huán)境,拜登政府卻力圖祭出更多刺激案,是參議員曼欽擋下法案才避免自傷。通脹是累退稅(regressive tax),對(duì)最不富裕者傷害最大,誤導(dǎo)濟(jì)于事。累退稅的意思是納稅人所得和財(cái)富越高,實(shí)際稅率越低。
拜登等人長(zhǎng)期批評(píng)亞馬遜和貝佐斯未繳稅。ProPublica去年公布,2017、2018年亞馬遜未支付任何聯(lián)邦所得稅。貝佐斯本人2007、2011年也未繳納半毛所得稅款;貝佐斯資產(chǎn)凈值高達(dá)1,370億美元。
拜登2019年曾說(shuō),他對(duì)亞馬遜沒(méi)意見(jiàn),但獲利數(shù)十億美元的企業(yè),稅率不該低于消防員或教師,應(yīng)該獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)辛勤工作而非財(cái)富。
(首圖來(lái)源:Flickr/NASA Robotics Competitions Sheyene GerardiCC BY 2.0)