纽约时报双语:特朗普税单再揭秘:超十年未纳税,2017年缴税750美元

特朗普税单再揭秘:超十年未纳税,2017年缴税750美元
18 Revelations From a Trove of Trump Tax Records
DAVID LEONHARDT
2020年9月28日
纽约时报双语:特朗普税单再揭秘:超十年未纳税,2017年缴税750美元

The New York Times has obtained tax-return data for President Trump and his companies that covers more than two decades. Mr. Trump has long refused to release this information, making him the first president in decades to hide basic details about his finances. His refusal has made his tax returns among the most sought-after documents in recent memory.

纽约时报》获得了特朗普总统及其公司20多年来的纳税申报数据。长期以来,特朗普都拒绝公开这一信息,这使他成为数十年来第一位隐瞒基本财务细节的总统。

Among the key findings of The Times’s investigation:

时报调查的重要发现包括:

• Mr. Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years that The Times examined. In 2017, after he became president, his tax bill was only $750.

• 在时报检阅的18年资料里,特朗普有11年没有缴纳联邦所得税。在他当选总统后,他2017年的税单只有750美元。

• He has reduced his tax bill with questionable measures, including a $72.9 million tax refund that is the subject of an audit by the Internal Revenue Service.

• 他采取了可疑的措施减少税款,其中有一笔7290万美元的退税正在接受美国国税局(Internal Revenue Service)的审计。

• Many of his signature businesses, including his golf courses, report losing large amounts of money — losses that have helped him to lower his taxes.

• 他名下的许多标志性企业——包括他的高尔夫球场,据报道正在遭遇大笔亏损。这些亏损帮他减少了税款。

• The financial pressure on him is increasing as hundreds of millions of dollars in loans he personally guaranteed are soon coming due.

• 由于他个人担保的数亿美元贷款即将到期,他面临的财务压力正在增加。

• Even while declaring losses, he has managed to enjoy a lavish lifestyle by taking tax deductions on what most people would consider personal expenses, including residences, aircraft and $70,000 in hairstyling for television.

• 即使在承受亏损的同时,他还是设法享受着奢华的生活,因为他对大多数人认为的个人开支进行了税收减免,这些开支包括住宅、飞机和7万美元的电视出镜造型设计。

• Ivanka Trump, while working as an employee of the Trump Organization, appears to have received “consulting fees” that also helped reduce the family’s tax bill.

• 伊万卡·特朗普(Ivanka Trump)在特朗普集团(Trump Organization)任职时,似乎收到了“咨询费”,这也有助于减少其家族的税款。

• As president, he has received more money from foreign sources and U.S. interest groups than previously known. The records do not reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.

• 作为总统,他从外国和美国利益集团获得的资金比之前所知的要多。这些记录没有揭示任何此前未被报道过的与俄罗斯的联系。

It is important to remember that the returns are not an unvarnished look at Mr. Trump’s business activity. They are instead his own portrayal of his companies, compiled for the I.R.S. But they do offer the most detailed picture yet available.

重要的是要记住,这些退税并非不加掩饰地暴露了特朗普的商业活动,相反,它们是他为国税局编绘的对自己名下公司的描述。而这些记录的确提供了到目前为止最详细的情况。

Below is a deeper look at the takeaways. The main article based on the investigation contains much more information, as does a timeline of the president’s finances. Dean Baquet, the executive editor, has written a note explaining why The Times is publishing these findings.

以下是对这些发现的更深入研究。基于调查的主稿以及总统的财务时间线总结都包含了更多信息。主编迪恩·巴奎(Dean Baquet)撰写了一篇注释,解释为何时报要发表这些调查结果。

The president’s tax avoidance

总统的避税行为

Mr. Trump has paid no federal income taxes for much of the past two decades.

在过去二十年的大部分时间里,特朗普没有缴纳任何联邦所得税。

In addition to the 11 years in which he paid no taxes during the 18 years examined by The Times, he paid only $750 in each of the two most recent years — 2016 and 2017.

在时报调查的18个年头里,他有11年没有缴税,除此之外,他在最近的两年(2016和2017年)里每年仅缴纳了750美元税款。

He has managed to avoid taxes while enjoying the lifestyle of a billionaire — which he claims to be — while his companies cover the costs of what many would consider personal expenses.

他设法在避税的同时享受着——他自称是——亿万富翁的生活,而他的公司承担了会被许多人认为是个人支出的费用。

This tax avoidance sets him apart from most other affluent Americans.

这种避税行为使他有别于大多数其他富裕的美国人。

Taxes on wealthy Americans have declined sharply over the past few decades, and many use loopholes to reduce their taxes below the statutory rates. But most affluent people still pay a lot of federal income tax.

过去几十年来,美国富人的税率大幅下降,许多人利用漏洞将税率降低到法定税率以下。但大多数富人仍需缴纳大量联邦所得税。

In 2017, the average federal income rate for the highest-earning .001 percent of tax filers — that is, the most affluent 1/100,000th slice of the population — was 24.1 percent, according to the I.R.S.

根据国税局的数据,2017年,收入最高的0.01%的报税者——即占总人口10万分之一的最富有群体——的平均联邦所得税率为24.1%。

Over the past two decades, Mr. Trump has paid about $400 million less in combined federal income taxes than a very wealthy person who paid the average for that group each year.

在过去二十年里,和一个非常富有的人按照该群体平均年税率所缴纳的税额相比,特朗普所缴纳的联邦所得税总额少了约4亿美元。

His tax avoidance also sets him apart from past presidents.

他的避税行为也让他有别于以往的总统。

Mr. Trump may be the wealthiest U.S. president in history. Yet he has often paid less in taxes than other recent presidents. Barack Obama and George W. Bush each regularly paid more than $100,000 a year — and sometimes much more — in federal income taxes while in office.

特朗普或许是有史以来最富有的美国总统。然而,与最近几任总统相比,他交过的税往往更少。贝拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)和乔治·W·布什(George W. Bush)在职时,他们每年各自所缴纳的联邦所得税通常超过10万美元——有时还远超于此。

Mr. Trump, by contrast, is running a federal government to which he has contributed almost no income tax revenue in many years.

相比之下,特朗普领导着联邦政府,却多年来几乎没有向其贡献任何所得税。

A large refund has been crucial to his tax avoidance.

巨额退税是他避税的关键。

Mr. Trump did face large tax bills after the initial success of “The Apprentice” television show, but he erased most of these tax payments through a refund. Combined, Mr. Trump initially paid almost $95 million in federal income taxes over the 18 years. He later managed to recoup most of that money, with interest, by applying for and receiving a $72.9 million tax refund, starting in 2010.

在电视节目《学徒》(The Apprentice)初获成功后,特朗普的确面临着巨额税单,但通过退款抵消了大部分税款。在18年时间里,他本来一共缴纳了近9500万美元的联邦所得税。从2010年开始,他申请并获得了7290万美元的退税,从而收回了缴纳的大部分税金,以及利息。

The refund reduced his total federal income tax bill between 2000 and 2017 to an annual average of $1.4 million. By comparison, the average American in the top .001 percent of earners paid about $25 million in federal income taxes each year over the same span.

这笔退税让他从2000年到2017年间的联邦所得税总额降至了平均每年140万美元的水平。作为对比,同时期收入最高的0.01%的美国人平均每年缴纳的联邦所得税约为2500万美元。

The $72.9 million refund has since become the subject of a long-running battle with the I.R.S.

这7290万美元的退款随后也成为他与国税局旷日持久的斗争主题。

When applying for the refund, he cited a giant financial loss that may be related to the failure of his Atlantic City casinos. Publicly, he also claimed that he had fully surrendered his stake in the casinos.

在申请退税时,他提出一笔巨大的亏损,可能与他在大西洋城赌场生意的失败有关。在公开场合,他还声称自己完全放弃了赌场股份。

But the real story may be different from the one he told. Federal law holds that investors can claim a total loss on an investment, as Mr. Trump did, only if they receive nothing in return. Mr. Trump did appear to receive something in return: 5 percent of the new casino company that formed when he renounced his stake.

但真实情况可能与他所说的不同。联邦法律规定,投资者要想像特朗普那样声称全部亏损,前提是他们没有获得任何投资回报。特朗普似乎确实得到了一些回报:他宣布放弃股份后,获得了新成立的赌场公司5%的股份。

In 2011, the I.R.S. began an audit reviewing the legitimacy of the refund. Almost a decade later, the case remains unresolved, for unknown reasons, and could ultimately end up in federal court, where it could become a matter of public record.

2011年,国税局开始对这笔退税的合法性进行审计。近十年后,由于未知原因,此案仍未得到解决,并可能最终打上联邦法院,成为公共记录事务。

Business expenses and personal benefits

企业支出和个人利益

Mr. Trump classifies much of the spending on his personal lifestyle as the cost of business.

特朗普将个人生活上的大部分支出归为企业成本。

His residences are part of the family business, as are the golf courses where he spends so much time. He has classified the cost of his aircraft, used to shuttle him among his homes, as a business expense as well. Haircuts — including more than $70,000 to style his hair during “The Apprentice” — have fallen into the same category. So did almost $100,000 paid to a favorite hair and makeup artist of Ivanka Trump.

他的住宅是家族企业的一部分,他花了无数时间享受的高尔夫球场也是如此。他还将自己乘坐飞机往返于各处住宅的费用列为企业支出。理发——包括在《学徒》拍摄期间超过7万美元的发型设计——也被算入同一类支出。向伊万卡·特朗普最喜欢的一位发型化妆师支付的近10万美元也是如此。

All of this helps to reduce Mr. Trump’s tax bill further, because companies can write off business expenses.

所有这些都有助于进一步减少特朗普的税单,因为企业可以在计税时扣除这些业务开支。

Seven Springs, his estate in Westchester County, N.Y., typifies his aggressive definition of business expenses.

他在纽约州威彻斯特县的房产七泉体现了他对商业支出的积极看法。

Mr. Trump bought the estate, which stretches over more than 200 acres in Bedford, N.Y., in 1996. His sons Eric and Donald Jr. spent summers living there when they were younger. “This is really our compound,” Eric told Forbes in 2014. “Today,” the Trump Organization website continues to report, “Seven Springs is used as a retreat for the Trump family.”

特朗普于1996年在纽约州贝德福德买下了这处占地200多英亩的庄园。他的儿子埃里克(Eric)和小唐纳德(Donald Jr.)年轻时都在那里度过夏天。2014年,埃里克在接受《福布斯》(Forbes)采访时说:“那里真的是我们的地盘。”“如今,”特朗普集团网站也报道,“七泉被用作特朗普家族的休养地。”

Nonetheless, the elder Mr. Trump has classified the estate as an investment property, distinct from a personal residence. As a result, he has been able to write off $2.2 million in property taxes since 2014 — even as his 2017 tax law has limited individuals to writing off only $10,000 in property taxes a year.

尽管如此,唐纳德·特朗普还是将这处房产列为有别于私人住宅的投资性房产。因此,自2014年以来,他得以冲销220万美元的财产税——尽管他2017年公布的税法规定个人每年只能冲销1万美元的财产税。

The ‘consulting fees’

“咨询费”

Across nearly all of his projects, Mr. Trump’s companies set aside about 20 percent of income for unexplained ‘consulting fees.’

在他几乎所有项目中,特朗普的公司都预留了约20%的收入,用于支付原因不明的“咨询费”。

These fees reduce taxes, because companies are able to write them off as a business expense, lowering the amount of final profit subject to tax.

这些费用可以减少税收,因为公司可以将其作为业务费用冲销,从而降低应纳税的最终利润额。

Mr. Trump collected $5 million on a hotel deal in Azerbaijan, for example, and reported $1.1 million in consulting fees. In Dubai, there was a $630,000 fee on $3 million in income. Since 2010, Mr. Trump has written off some $26 million in such fees.

例如,特朗普在阿塞拜疆的一笔酒店交易中收取了500万美元,并报告了110万美元的咨询费。在迪拜,收入为300万美元,咨询费为63万美元。自2010年以来,特朗普已经冲销了约2600万美元的此类费用。

His daughter appears to have received some of these consulting fees, despite having been a top Trump Organization executive.

他的女儿似乎也收到了其中一些咨询费,尽管她曾是特朗普集团的高管。

The Times investigation discovered a striking match: Mr. Trump’s private records show that his company once paid $747,622 in fees to an unnamed consultant for hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, British Columbia. Ivanka Trump’s public disclosure forms — which she filed when joining the White House staff in 2017 — show that she had received an identical amount through a consulting company she co-owned.

时报的调查发现了一个惊人的吻合之处:特朗普的私人记录显示,他的公司曾为夏威夷和不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华的酒店项目,向一位未具名的顾问支付了747622美元的费用。伊万卡·特朗普(Ivanka Trump)在2017年加入白宫工作人员时提交的公开报表显示,她通过自己共同拥有的一家咨询公司获得了相同数额的收入。

Money-losing businesses

亏损企业

Many of the highest-profile Trump businesses lose large amounts of money.

特朗普的许多知名度最高的企业都亏损了大量资金。

Since 2000, he has reported losing more than $315 million at the golf courses that he often describes as the heart of his empire. Much of this has been at Trump National Doral, a resort near Miami that he bought in 2012. And his Washington hotel, opened in 2016, has lost more than $55 million.

自2000年以来,他的高尔夫球场报告的损失已超过3.15亿美元,他经常把这些球场称为自己帝国的核心,其中大部分都在特朗普多拉国家酒店,这是他2012年在迈阿密附近买下的一个度假胜地。他于2016年在华盛顿开业的酒店已损失了超过5500万美元。

An exception: Trump Tower in New York, which reliably earns him more than $20 million in profits a year.

纽约的特朗普大厦是一个例外,它每年为他稳定赚取超过2000万美元的利润。

The most successful part of the Trump business has been his personal brand.

特朗普生意中最成功的部分是他的个人品牌。

The Times calculates that between 2004 and 2018, Mr. Trump made a combined $427.4 million from selling his image — an image of unapologetic wealth through shrewd business management. The marketing of this image has been a huge success, even if the underlying management of many of the operating Trump companies has not been.

据时报计算,在2004年至2018年期间,特朗普靠出售自己的形象——一个通过精明的商业管理,理直气壮地获取财富的人——总共赚了4.2740亿美元。这种形象营销取得了巨大成功,尽管特朗普许多正在运营的公司的基础管理并不成功。

Other firms, especially in real estate, have paid for the right to use the Trump name. The brand made possible the “The Apprentice” — and the show then took the image to another level.

其他公司为使用特朗普名字的权利支付了费用,尤其是房地产行业的公司。这个品牌使《学徒》(The Apprentice)成为可能,而这个节目随后将特朗普的形象提升到了更高层次。

Of course, Mr. Trump’s brand also made possible his election as the first United States president with no prior government experience.

当然,特朗普的品牌也让他当选成为第一位没有政府工作经验的美国总统成为可能。

But his unprofitable companies still served a financial purpose: reducing his tax bill.

但他那些不盈利的公司仍然起到了一个财务目的:减少他的税单。

The Trump Organization — a collection of more than 500 entities, virtually all of them wholly owned by Mr. Trump — has used the losses to offset the rich profits from the licensing of the Trump brand and other profitable pieces of its business.

特朗普集团——拥有500多个实体,几乎全部由特朗普全资拥有——利用这些亏损来抵消特朗普品牌授权和其他盈利业务带来的丰厚利润。

The reported losses from the operating businesses were so large that they often fully erased the licensing income, leaving the organization to claim that it earns no money and thus owes no taxes. This pattern is an old one for Mr. Trump. The collapse of major parts of his business in the early 1990s generated huge losses that he used to reduce his taxes for years afterward.

营业业务报告的亏损非常大,往往可以完全抵消品牌许可权带来的收入,让该集团声称自己没有赚到钱,因此不欠税。这种模式对特朗普来说是个老套路。1990年代初,他的企业主要部分倒闭,产生了巨额亏损,他利用这些亏损在之后几年里减少纳税。

Large bills looming

大账单迫在眉睫

With the cash from ‘The Apprentice,’ Mr. Trump went on his biggest buying spree since the 1980s.

有了《学徒》带来的现金,特朗普开始了自1980年代以来最大的收购狂潮。

“The Apprentice,” which debuted on NBC in 2004, was a huge hit. Mr. Trump received 50 percent of its profits, and he went on to buy more than 10 golf courses and multiple other properties. The losses at these properties reduced his tax bill.

《学徒》于2004年在NBC首播,大获成功。特朗普获得了其中50%的利润,他又买下了10多个高尔夫球场和其他多处房产。这些房产的亏损减少了他的税单。

But the strategy ran into trouble as the money from “The Apprentice” began to decline. By 2015, his financial condition was worsening.

但随着《学徒》的收入开始下降,这一策略陷入了困境。到2015年,他的财务状况开始恶化。

His 2016 presidential campaign may have been partly an attempt to resuscitate his brand.

他2016年参加总统竞选在一定程度上可能是为了重振自己的品牌。

The financial records do not answer this question definitively. But the timing is consistent: Mr. Trump announced a campaign that seemed a long shot to win, but was almost certain to bring him newfound attention, at the same time that his businesses were in need of a new approach.

财务记录没有明确回答这个问题。但时机是一致的:特朗普宣布了竞选活动,尽管看似胜算不大,但几乎肯定会让他获得新的关注,与此同时,他的企业也需要新的策略。

The presidency has helped his business.

担任总统对他的生意有帮助。

Since he became a leading presidential candidate, he has received large amounts of money from lobbyists, politicians and foreign officials who pay to stay at his properties or join his clubs. The Times investigation puts precise numbers on this spending for the first time.

自从成为主要总统候选人以来,他从游说者、政治人士和外国官员那里获得了大量金钱,这些人付费入住他的房产或参加他的俱乐部。时报的调查首次给出了这方面款项的精确数字。

A surge of new members at the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida gave him an additional $5 million a year from the business since 2015. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association paid at least $397,602 in 2017 to the Washington hotel, where it held at least one event during its World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians.

自2015年以来,佛罗里达州马阿拉歌庄园俱乐部的新会员激增,每年给他带来500万美元的额外收入。2017年,葛培理布道团(Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)向华盛顿酒店支付了至少39.7602万美元,该布道团在召开其保卫受迫害基督徒世界峰会期间,在华盛顿的特朗普酒店至少举办了一场活动。

In his first two years in the White House, Mr. Trump received millions of dollars from projects in foreign countries, including $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey.

在入主白宫的头两年里,特朗普从外国项目中获得了数百万美元,其中300万美元来自菲律宾,230万美元来自印度,100万美元来自土耳其。

But the presidency has not resolved his core financial problem: Many of his businesses continue to lose money.

但是,总统并没有解决他的核心财务问题:他的许多企业继续亏损。

With “The Apprentice” revenue declining, Mr. Trump has absorbed the losses partly through one-time financial moves that may not be available to him again.

随着《学徒》收入下降,特朗普部分通过一次性的财务行动吸收了这些损失,而他可能无法再次利用这些举措了。

In 2012, he took out a $100 million mortgage on the commercial space in Trump Tower. He has also sold hundreds of millions worth of stock and bonds. But his financial records indicate that he may have as little as $873,000 left to sell.

2012年,他为特朗普大厦的商业空间申请了1亿美元的抵押贷款。他还出售了价值数亿美元的股票和债券。不过,他的财务记录显示,他可能只剩下87.3万美元可以出售。

He will soon face several major bills that could put further pressure on his finances.

他很快将面临几项可能给他的财务带来进一步压力的大账单。

He appears to have paid off none of the principal of the Trump Tower mortgage, and the full $100 million comes due in 2022. And if he loses his dispute with the I.R.S. over the 2010 refund, he could owe the government more than $100 million (including interest on the original amount).

他似乎没有还清特朗普大厦的抵押贷款本金, 1亿美元的全部贷款将在2022年到期。如果他在与国税局关于2010年退款的纠纷中败诉,他将欠政府超过1亿美元(包括原始金额的利息)。

He is personally on the hook for some of these bills.

他个人要承担其中一些账单的费用。

In the 1990s, Mr. Trump nearly ruined himself by personally guaranteeing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, and he has since said that he regretted doing so. But he has taken the same step again, his tax records show. He appears to be responsible for loans totaling $421 million, most of which is coming due within four years.

1990年代,特朗普因个人担保数亿美元的贷款,差点毁了自己,后来他表示很后悔这么做。但他的税务记录显示,他又采取了同样的步骤。他似乎要对总计4.21亿美元的贷款负责,其中大部分将在四年内到期。

Should he win re-election, his lenders could be placed in the unprecedented position of weighing whether to foreclose on a sitting president. Whether he wins or loses, he will probably need to find new ways to use his brand — and his popularity among tens of millions of Americans — to make money.

如果他赢得连任,他的贷款机构可能会被置于前所未有的位置,需要权衡是否取消在任总统的抵押品赎回权。无论他是赢是输,他可能需要找到新的方法去利用自己的品牌以及在数千万美国人中的声望,从而为自己赚钱。

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