现在富人的税负是高还是低？
　　Do the rich pay their 'fair share' in taxes?
　　接下来这几年，随着政府想办法填补巨大的预算缺口，这个问题肯定会成为很多政治辩论的焦点话题。
　　That question is sure to underline much of the political debate in the coming years as the government looks to fill its vast budget hole.
　　政治左派认为，富人缴纳的税款在其收入中的比重低于其他美国人。我们知道一些富人的情况。像L.A. Dodgers棒球队的老板麦考特(Frank McCourt)，他从2004年到2009年挣了1.08亿美元，但由于使用了亏损抵税结转，并没有向联邦或州政府缴纳任何所得税。就连巴菲特(Warren Buffett)也曾抱怨，他秘书所缴纳税款占收入的比重比他本人还要高。
　　Those on the political left argue that the rich pay a lower share of their income in taxes than the rest of America. We hear stories about rich guys like Frank McCourt, the owner of the L.A. Dodgers, who earned $108 million from 2004 through 2009 but didn't pay any federal or state income taxes thanks to his use of loss-carry forwards. No less than Warren Buffett has complained that his secretary pays more taxes as a percentage of her income than he does.
　　经济学家曼昆最新一篇重要论文提供了一种更接近事实的视角。这篇论文名为《散播财富：关于水管工乔的反思》(Spreading the Wealth Around: Reflections on Joe the Plumber)，其中引用了国会预算办公室(Congressional Budget Office)的计算结果：
　　But an important new paper by economist Greg Mankiw, called 'Spreading the Wealth Around: Reflections on Joe the Plumber,' offers a more factual perspective. He cites Congressional Budget Office calculations that show:
　　最贫穷的五分之一人口平均年收入为15,400美元，联邦税负只占其收入的4.5%。中间五分之一人口收入为56,200美元，缴纳13.9%。最富裕五分之一人口收入为207,200美元，缴纳25.1%。最富的1%人口平均收入为1,259,700美元，把31.1%的收入交给联邦政府。
　　The poorest fifth of the population, with average annual income of $15,400, pays only 4.5 percent of its income in federal taxes. The middle fifth, with income of $56,200, pays 13.9 percent. And the top fifth, with income of $207,200, pays 25.1 percent. The richest 1 percent, with an average income of $1,259,700, forks over 31.1 percent of its income to the federal government.
　　曼昆得出结论说，“说我们没有一个累进式的税收制度是完全错误的”，“最佳分析显示，平均联邦税率随着收入的上升急速上涨”。
　　He concludes that 'it is simply wrong to say we don't have a progressive tax system. The best analysis shows that average federal tax rates rise steeply with income.'
　　巴菲特等人的情况又怎么解释？这是因为他们自己的计算常常并没有把企业税考虑进去，如果考虑进去，税率就会提高。
　　How to account for Mr. Buffett and others? Their calculations often don't include corporate taxes, which would boost the rates.
　　当然，今天富人所得在国民收入中的比重比过去高了很多，1%最富人群在国民收入中的比重，相比上世纪70年代中期已经高出一倍多。他们的税率也较以前更低。毋庸置疑，富人已经更富了。（曼昆的论文接着又考查了其他为富人设定税率的方式，比如确定高收入者对社会或经济贡献了多少价值，以及他们从政府获得了多少好处。）
　　Of course the rich earn a much larger share of national income today than they used to, with top 1 percent's share of national income more than doubling since the mid-1970s. They also pay a lower tax rate than they used to. There is no denying the rich have gotten richer. (Mr. Mankiw's paper goes on to look at other ways of setting tax rates on the rich, like determining how much value a high-income earner contributes to society or the economy and how much they have benefited from government.)
　　但国会预算委员会数据给出的一个重要结论在于，仅看巴菲特和麦考特等人，是不能掌握有关公平税负比重的全部情况的。
　　Yet the important point with the CBO data is that the Warren Buffetts and Frank McCourts of the world don't tell us the whole story of the fair share.
　　你认为富人承担多大比重的税负是公平的？
　　What do you think is a fair percentage for taxing the wealthy?