英国计划对中老年人征收'年龄税'

The middle-aged and over 65s in the UK may soon be taxed to cover the cost of their later life care if proposals are given the go ahead.

如果相关提案获得政府批准的话，英国中年人及65岁以上的老年人，可能很快就要缴税以支付自己晚年生活护理的费用了。

Matt Hancock, the Health and Social Care Secretary, said he was "attracted to" a cross-party plan for a compulsory premium deducted from the earnings of over 40s and over 65s.

英国卫生及社会保障大臣马特·汉考克表示，他“很有兴趣”达成一项跨党派计划，从40岁以上以及65岁以上人群的收入中强制性扣除保险费。

Hancock's comments suggest that the scheme will be discussed by Parliament and published by Christmas as one of their Green Paper proposals.

汉考克的话暗示，该计划将提交议会讨论，在圣诞节前作为卫生及社会保障绿皮书的提案之一发布。

The proposal is based on the German healthcare system where all workers over 40 pay 2.5% of their wages into a pot formally reserved for social care.

该提案是基于德国的护理制度提出的，德国所有40岁以上的劳动者都需向一个社保资金池缴纳2.5%的收入。

Mr Hancock told The Sunday Telegraph: "One of the reasons I'm attracted to the proposal is that it's cross party."

汉考克向《星期日电讯报》透露：“我对这一提案很感兴趣，是因为它是跨党派的”

"This is a problem which can only be solved by people coming together behind a solution, because as soon as it's turned into a political football it makes it extremely difficult to make any progress at all."

“这是一个只有人们团结起来才能解决的问题，因为一旦它变成了一个政治难题，就很难取得任何进展。”

"I'm prepared to have a range of options and see if we can build a consensus around one of them."

“我已经准备好了一系列的选项，看看我们能不能就其中一个达成共识。”