美国债务磋商因税收问题受阻

Daley spoke on ABC’s This Week program. The administration has long maintained it would consider painful spending cuts to federal programs long-championed by Democrats, as well as reforms to so-called entitlement programs that provide income and medical insurance for retirees, if Republicans would agree to end tax breaks for the wealthy and certain corporate interests.

戴利是在美国广播公司的“本周”节目中说这番话的。奥巴马政府长期以来一直主张，如果共和党人同意结束针对富人和一些公司利益的减税政策，就将考虑对民主党人长期捍卫的一些联邦项目进行痛苦的开支削减，并对所谓的福利权益项目进行改革。这些权益项目是指向退休人员提供收入和医疗保险的项目。

Republicans reject any tax hikes unless overall tax rates are reduced, thereby making tax changes revenue-neutral. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on Fox News Sunday.

共和党人表示，除非降低整体税率，否则将拒绝任何增税措施，这也就是意味着税收政策的变化将不会给政府带来额外的收入。参议院少数党领袖麦康奈尔星期天在福克斯新闻台的节目中说：

“Everything they [administration officials] have told me and the speaker [John Boehner] is that, to get a big package, it would require big tax increases in the middle of an economic situation that is extraordinarily difficult with 9.2-percent unemployment," he said. "We [Republicans] think that is a terrible idea. It is a job-killer.”

“行政当局官员告诉我和贝纳议长的所有内容就是，达成一项大的一揽子计划，这项计划将在眼下失业率保持在百分之9点2，经济环境非常困难的情况下，要求大幅增税。我们共和党人认为，这是一个可怕的想法。这会扼杀工作机会。”

As a general principle, few, if any, economists advocate higher taxes as a cure for economic weakness. But there is disagreement among economists on whether government spending should be slashed to trim the deficit at a time of low private sector demand for goods and services. On one point there is no disagreement: America’s debt burden is unsustainable and, if left unchecked, will bankrupt the nation.

作为一个总的原则，几乎没有经济学家认为增税是解决经济疲软的途径。但是经济学家当中对政府在私人部门对商品和服务需求低迷不振的时候，是否应当削减政府开支以减少赤字的做法，存在不同意见。但是有一点是不存在争议的，那就是美国的债务负担是不可持续的，如果不加以遏制，整个国家将会破产。