经济学人 | 谈中国的“阴阳合同”

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现在越来越喜欢看戏骨飙戏，那跟你我在职场一样，是一种迷人的专业。不过，也是每一个你我决定了市场导向。世界那么丰富，又岂是能被一两个领域就占领大脑的。

# 经济学人 #

6.9- 6.15/ 2018

专栏 | Business

Tax evasion in China: Yin and yang

阴阳花式逃税

IT IS hard to go a day in China without seeing Fan Bingbing. The doe-eyed starlet gazes from film posters (she has averaged four films a year for the past decade), airbrushed ads for global brands and glossy magazine covers. But in the past week she has graced articles about tax evasion. Shares in a film-production firm that she partly owns fell by 10% on fears that it might be ensnared in a scandal in which actors have allegedly concealed their salaries. Ms Fan has denied wrongdoing. On June 3rd the government began a probe into tax compliance in the entertainment industry.

在中国，范冰冰似乎无处不在。这位年轻女星睁着小鹿般又黑又大眼睛的模样出现在电影海报里(过去十年她平均每年有四部电影)、精心修过图的大牌广告里和闪亮的杂志封面里。在刚过去的一周，她又为逃税的文章“增色”不少。由于最近爆出的演员隐藏真实收入(来逃税)的丑闻，她部分持有的一家电影制作公司的股价跌了10%。范冰冰否认她有过不当行为。6月3日政府开始对娱乐行业的税务合规进行调查。

* doe-eyed: adj. (especially of a woman) having large, gentle dark eyes

* starlet: adj. a young actress with aspirations to become a star

* airbrush: v.represent or describe as better or more beautiful than in reality 修图

* airbrushed (adj.)

The controversy began when Cui Yongyuan, a TV presenter, described two anonymous contracts on Weibo, a microblog, one for 10m yuan ($1.6m) and another, linked to the first, for 50m yuan. He said it was a case of the “yin-and-yang” payments prevalent in the film business: reporting a low salary for taxation and pocketing a larger sum. Share prices of big film firms, such as Huayi Brothers, also plunged.

这场争议源自电视节目主持人崔永元在微博上发了两份匿名合同，第一份合同的金额是1千万元(160万美元)，另一份和第一份合同相关，但金额却是5千万元。他说这种“阴阳”的付款方式在电影界非常普遍：用一份低金额的合同来缴税，而把实际剩下的大部分装进自己的口袋。大型电影公司如华谊兄弟的股价也因此大跌。

* controversy: prolonged public disagreement or heated discussion

e.g.  The design of the building has caused controversy.

Yin-and-yang contracts are illegal but common, from the property sector to football clubs. For years the government has tried to crack down on them. In one high-profile case, Liu Xiaoqing, a popular actress, was imprisoned in 2002. But the emergence of tax havensinside China is now complicating matters. Film studios have been among the most aggressive in taking advantage of them.

这些阴阳合同本身不合法但却很常见，从房地产到足球俱乐部都有这样的操作。多年来政府一直试图打击这些行为。一个著名的案例就是女演员刘晓庆因为这种逃税行为在2002年入狱。但中国内部避税地的出现正在使这类问题变得复杂。电影工作室一直是最竭力在利用这些避税手段的一类。

* crack down on: take severe measures against

e.g. The police will crack down on criminals.

* high-profile: adj. attracting much attention or publicity

e.g.a high-profile military presence

Their destination of choice has been Khorgos (霍尔果斯), a desert outpost in China’s far west, next to Kazakhstan (哈萨克斯坦). The central government hopes to build it into a key link in trading networks that traverse central Asia. Companies that register in Khorgos enjoy a five-year holiday from corporate taxes, followed by another five years in which they pay only about half.

他们选的避税地就是霍尔果斯，这是一个在中国遥远西部的沙漠小镇，毗邻哈萨克斯坦。中央政府希望将霍尔果斯建设成为横跨中亚贸易网络的关键环节。所以在这里注册的公司可以享受到头5年免征企业所得税，以及第二个5年只用缴纳一半的税。

* outpost: n. a remote part of a country or empire

e.g. a few scattered outposts along the west coast

In 2017, 14,472 firms registered themselves in Khorgos, up more than fourfold from 2016. Local tax revenues have soared. But many of the firms nominally based in the dusty border town do not actually do anything there. Roughly nine in ten are in asset-light industries, such as media and also financial services. Ms Fan is one of dozens of celebrities who have registered corporate entities in Khorgos. For private-equity firms, Tibet has become a popular locale for registering funds, also thanks to tax discounts.

2017年就有14472家公司在霍尔果斯注册，比2016年增长了4倍多。地方税收入飙升。在这个尘土飞扬的边境小镇成立的许多公司实际上并没有在这里做任何事情。这里的公司大致上90%都是轻资产的公司，如媒体和金融服务类。范冰冰就是在这里注册了公司的数十位名人之一。对于私募股权公司来说，西藏能成为注册公司的热门场所，同样得益于税收优惠政策。

* locale /ləʊ'kɑːl/: n. a place where something happens or is set, or that has particular events associated with it 

e.g. Her summers were spent in a variety of exotic locales.

Tax havens and yin-and-yang contracts highlight the holes in China’s tax system. The International Monetary Fund estimates that government revenue from taxes on personal incomes is only 1.2% of GDP, compared with around 10% in many advanced economies.

避税地和阴阳合同的存在凸显了中国税收体系中的漏洞。国际货币基金组织估计，政府对个人收入的征税仅占GDP的1.2％，而在许多先进经济体中这个数字是10%。

China’s film business is booming; box-office revenues were $8.6bn in 2017, up from less than $1bn a decade ago. But with the Klieg lights glaring on Khorgos, studios and stars will probably have to start sharing more of their riches with the government. For all the glitz and glamour of its film industry, China is still working out the basics of efficient taxation.

中国电影业发展兴旺， 2017年票房收入为86亿美元，而在十年前还不到10亿美元。随着电影业瞄准了避税地霍尔果斯，电影公司和明星们可能不得不要开始与政府分享更多的财富。对于电影业这种浮华和魅力的特殊性，中国仍在制定高效税收的基础。

* booming: adj. having a period of great prosperity or rapid economic growth

e.g. the booming economy of the 1920s

* Klieg [kli:ɡ] light: a powerful electric lamp used in filming 强弧光灯, 聚光灯

* glitz/glɪts/: extravagant but superficial display 浮华

e.g. the glitz and sophisticated night life of Ibiza

* glamour: an attractive or exciting quality that makes certain people or things seem appealing 魅力

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