VOA慢速英语: 卢森堡着手结束银行保密法

Luxembourg Set to End Bank Secrecy
卢森堡着手结束银行保密制度
From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.
来自VOA英语学习，这里是经济报道。
European Union finance ministers have reached an agreement that will make it more difficult for tax avoiders to hide their money. The new legislation was approved last week after Luxembourg and Austria agreed to lift their vetoes. Countries known as tax havens had blocked the bank secrecy laws for years.
欧盟的财政部长达成一致协议：让逃税人更难隐藏他们的钱。卢森堡和奥地利解除他们否决票后，上周颁布一项新法规。许多作为避税遮掩所的国家，很多年来一直阻止新的银行保密制度的颁布。
The new law means that depositors will no longer be able to hide their money from governments in EU countries like Luxembourg. So says Algirdas Semeta, the EU Commissioner for Taxation.
“新的法规意味着存款人将没办法在欧盟国家如：卢森堡等，隐藏他们的钱。”欧盟税务专员吉大斯·梅塔如此讲到。
“The revised directive promises full and lasting tax transparency in Europe. Bank secrecy is dead, and automatic exchange of information will be applied in its widest form.”
“修订后的法令有望全面和持久的增加欧洲税务透明度。银行保密制度是死的，但是信息的自动交流将会以最广泛形式运用。”
Luxembourg agreed to share bank information with member countries starting in 2017. Austria has signaled that it will do the same by 2018.
卢森堡同意从2017年开始，与欧盟成员国分享银行信息。奥地利表示2018年开始也会这样做。
Jacob Kirkegaard is a researcher with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He says the agreement is an important milestone in world wide efforts to stop tax avoidance.
雅各布·柯克加德是彼得森国际经济研究所的研究员，他说该协议是世界范围内阻止逃税的一个重要里程碑。
“This is a very significant development and it’s really the culmination of what at least in the EU has been a decade-long struggle by some governments – in France, Italy and Germany - to really curb this long standing practice of anonymous, offshore, if you like, bank accounts in other EU countries.”
“这是非常有意义的发展进程，欧盟一些国家——包括法国、意大利和德国，经过十年之久的斗争，确实达到高潮，他们遏制这种长期实行的境外匿名方式的银行账户：只要你喜欢，就可以在欧盟其他国家开户存取款。”
Many years of bank secrecy have helped Luxembourg become one of Europe’s main financial centers. Bank deposits in the country are valued at more than 10 times the size of the nation’s yearly economic production.
很多年来，银行的保密工作使得卢森堡成为欧洲主要的金融中心。国家一年银行存款的价值是国家每年经济生产总的10倍。
Switzerland once was among the world’s biggest tax havens: countries with little bank regulation or with low taxes. But the country ended its bank secrecy policy last year after facing intense legal pressure from Europe and the U.S.
瑞士曾经是世界最大的避税场所：国家银行法规制度较少或者只有很低的税。但是该国面对欧洲和美国的强大的压力，去年结束了银行保密政策。
People seeking to avoid taxes in their home country can still hide their money in less developed countries where bank supervision is weaker. But Jacob Kirkegaard says the choices and advantages of doing so are shrinking.
在本国寻求逃税的人仍然可以在欠发达国家继续藏他们的钱，因为这些发展中国家的银行监督机制比较薄弱。但是雅各布·柯克加德说这些选择和优势也在减少。
“Well, you can go to places like Dubai, some have mentioned Singapore, but Singapore has also recently joined these efforts, so it becomes increasingly difficult to keep your money at a place at which they are readily available.”
“你可以去迪拜，有些人提到新加坡，但是新加坡最近也加入到遏制逃税的行列中。所以把钱放在一个想要随时使用的地方越来越困难。”
Some economists estimate that as much as eight percent of the world’s financial wealth may be hidden in tax haven countries. That is more than $7trillion. It is estimated that worldwide tax income would increase by $200 billion if that money were correctly reported to tax officials.
一些经济学家估计世界8%的金融财富也许藏在那些“避税天堂”的国家。这一数目大概有7万亿美元。据估计如果这些藏匿的钱能够正确报告得税务官员，世界范围内会增加2万亿美元的税收收入。
And that’s the Economics Report from VOA Learning English.
这是来自VOA英语学习的经济报道。
I’m Mario Ritter.
我是马里恩·李特。
Words in this Story
depositors – n. people placing money in a bank by making a deposit
signal – v. to be a sign of something, to show something
milestone – n. an important goal
tax havens – n. territories or countries were tax laws permit people orcorporations to avoid or limit taxation or bank secrecy laws in their owncountries
advantages – n. benefits or gains