外教讲解地道美语 第303期:First Paycheck第一次对薪水质疑

Emily: Hey, Susan.  Have you got a sec?  I have some questions about my paycheck. 嘿，苏珊。能耽误你一点时间吗？我想问你关于我薪水的问题。

Susan: You bet, Emily. Pull up a chair. 你肯定吗，艾米丽，拿个椅子过来坐下说吧。

Emily: Well, this is my first paycheck here in the States and there are a few things I don't understand.  First of all, what is this FICA, and SUI Y tax, and why are there deductions both for Medicare and for my health insurance plan? 嗯，这是我在美国第一次领薪水，有些地方我不是很懂。首先，这个FICA和SUI Y税是什么。还有，为什么我的医疗和健康保险计划中都有扣除的部分呢？

Susan: OK, let's start from the top of your pay stub. This  number  here  represents  your  gross pay. 好的，让我们从你的工资条最开始看起，这里的数字代表你的工资总额。

Emily: Yes, that's easy enough to understand. 是的，这个很容易理解。

Susan: Then here we have a series of deductions. First off are the federal ones.  FICA stands for Federal Insurance Contribution Act, or something like that. It's your federal income tax.  And then there's Social Security and Medicare, which are both federal programs to help you out after you retire or if you were unable to work. 这个部分我们有一系列的扣除部分。首先在所有的联邦的项目中，FICA代表美国社会保险捐款法以及相关的。这是你联邦收入税。然后是社会保险和医疗保险，它们都是在你退休或者你无法工作的时候帮助你的联邦项目。

Emily: All right, I see. So the Medicare isn't actually a health insurance I can use now. 好的，我明白了。所以说，医疗保险事实是我现在不能用的健康保险。

Susan: That's right. Below the federal deductions are the state deductions. There's the state income tax, and then this SUI/SDI tax you were asking about is paying into an unemployment and disability fund that our state has set up, but you can see it's a pretty small quantity that they take. 对了。在联邦扣除项下面是政府的扣除。包括政府收入税，还有你在问的SUI/SDI税，这些都是被征收到政府建立的失业和残疾基金里面的。你可以看到这部分只占很小的比例。

Emily: Yeah, I don't mind giving them a dollar fifty for that. So there are two separate income taxes—one at a state level and one at a federal level? 是的，我不介意拿出1.5美元给政府。所以说，有两类收入税——一个是政府层面的，还有一个是联邦层面的，对吗？

Susan: That's right. Not all states have an income tax. Some use higher property taxes or sales taxes instead. 说对了。不是所有的政府都有收入税。有的是用高收入税或者营业税代替的。

Emily: I see. All right, well I think everything else I can figure out on my own. The deductions for health insurance and my  401(K) are pretty self-explanatory. Thanks for your help, Susan. 我知道了。好吧，我想其它的我都可以自己弄明白了。对于我的保险和401(K)也差不多清楚了。谢谢你的帮助，苏珊。

Susan: No problem! All those deductions do add up, and nobody's net pay is as high as they'd like. I can understand why you'd want some explanation. 没有问题。所有的扣除加在一起，每个人的净薪金都没有他们想象中的要么高。我能理解为什么你想弄明白。

Emily: Yeah, I guess it's the same in the UK, I just never paid much attention. See you later! 是的，我想在英国也一样，我只是没有注意，再见！

FICA abbr. （美国）联邦社会保险捐款法（Federal Insurance Contributions Act）