【英语专业四级满分听力】税收

　　Why must we pay taxes? The answer is that the government needs money for many things, for example, to pay its soldiers, sailors and airmen, to build roads, bridges, offices, schools, or to buy goods from abroad. And only the people of the country can supply the money. One of the most important taxes is income tax which a person pays according to the amount of his income, whether he is a merchant, a doctor, a lawyer, a shopkeeper, or anything else. This is called a direct tax, because it is paid in money directly to the government. Another tax is paid on goods such as watches, jewelry, new clothes, tobacco, wine and so on, when they are brought into a country. such a tax is paid as part of the price of these goods if they are later sold in shops. We call it indirect tax, because it is paid indirectly through the shopkeeper.

　　我们为什么要交税?是因为政府需要这些钱做许多其他的事情，比如给军人、海军、空军的费用，修建公路、大桥、办公室、学校的费用，或者去引进一些国外商品的费用。这些钱，只有自己国家的公民们才能提供。其中最重要的一项税收叫做工资税，这个税是根据每个人的工资多少来交付的，无论你是一个商人、一个医生、一个律师、一个小店的店主，或者其他的什么职业。这种税叫直接税，因为它是以钱的形式直接交给了政府。另一种税是通过商品来交付的，例如手表、珠宝、新衣服、烟草、酒等等，当他们被带到一个国家，如果他们以商品的形式挂在店铺里面销售的话，这种税就通过商品的形式交付了。我们称这种税叫间接税，因为他是由店主间接交付的。