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【原文标题】China considers New Tax for foreigner
【中文标题】中国考虑对洋人起征新税
【登载媒体】华尔街日报
【来源地址】http://bbs.m4.cn/thread-3102996-1-1.html
【译者】无聊人的意志
【翻译方式】人工
【声明】本翻译供
Anti-CNN使用，未经AC或译者许可，不得转载。
【译文】
记者：艾华添（译者补充《华尔街日报》驻上海站站长）
因为六十万外国居民已经被纳入社保计划，所以上海正考虑向在沪工作的外国人以及他们的雇主征收一笔新的税。本周二国家媒体宣称这项税收依照的是在7月1日生效的鲜为人知的中华人民共和国社会保障法。具体数额要按照具体情况而定，但是在大城市工作的外国高管将为退休福利和公立医院的医保补贴支付大约每月一百美金每月的税费。  部分城市的社会保障税细则（人民币）
尽管分析家们还不知道这项税费收缴的严格程度，但是外侨的雇主将缴纳每位外籍雇员税费三倍的税金。
中国日报在周二的文章中引用了国家人力资源与社会保障部高级官员徐彦军（音译，略略地百度了一下，没有发现此高级官员。）的话：这项政策变动将会给予外侨与中国公民相等的待遇。
多年来，中国已经动用了大量的人力，物力去建立医院，重组药物分销体系，并且为其十四亿公民提高基础医疗服务水平。这是建立一个提供一切服务的现代化共产主义国家的重要基本点，然而它现在仍然主要是提供付费服务的。新的社会保障法加大了对退休金，工伤赔付，失业补助以及产妇保险等项目。
这个国家已经具有了足够的政治和经济力量去填补社会保障网络中的缺口。她巨大的人口正在老龄化，人们正在担心他们是否可以获得基本的医疗护理。中国政府减少人民忧虑的举措可以加强消费信心，使更多的存款流入消费市场，而不是让他们仅仅成为应急储备。
新的社保税如果严格征收，那么外侨很可能会指控这是准对他们财产的掠夺（译者补充：这么低的税还掠夺）。大多数在华外派人员享有国际保险，他们很少会在中国待十五年去领取他们的退休金。
但是当许多外国人只是作为在华短期居民或者享有高收入和体面工作。分析家认为北京的意图在于重新定位对侨政策，以在经济高速扩张的情况下吸引更多不那么富裕，并且需要社会保障的移民。
欧盟法律工作组中国分室的主任，罗南·迪欧说：“在中国工作，并在中国接受社会保障有几分逻辑。但是对于许多外侨来说，税费在中国所换来的服务，比如医疗服务被认为是不合格的。”
中美商会表示:“这项政策不是可以讨价还价的。美国就是要求外籍员工支付社保税的国家之一，而且税金也许在你离开以后换取不到什么服务。”
毕马威会计事务所的克里斯多夫·辛书说：对于中国雇员来说税收占收入的比例是11%，雇主是37%。以上海为例：“如果一个人的收入是11688元每月（1800美元）。这意味着如果是雇主要支付666美元，而如果是雇员则支付198美元。整个中国，特别是富裕的地区，税费在提高。评论家认为这是一个均衡贫富的政策。”
国际货币基金组织认为中国在总体上有减税的余地。但是其税收在稳步上扬。国际货币基金组织称比起中国在2005年税收占总体收入15.6%今年将会升至18.5%。
在美国保守智囊遗产基金会做出的最新国际经济自由度排名中，他们认为中国的财政自由度低于平均值，尽管如此，结果还是比美国高一些。最高所得税率为45%，企业所得税率为25%。
克里斯多夫说：事实上我们还不知道整个财政计划是否会获得成效。但是持有（中国）台湾，香港特区，澳门特区护照的公民从2005开始也被纳入本地化的管理体系，不过税收并未进行严格的征收。问题往往会在实行阶段显现，纳税人的配合程度不太稳定。
在接下来的几个月当中，更多的细节会体现出来。中国制定出一项法律并且在几个月后就生效是不太寻常的事。在这样一个幅员辽阔的国家整个过程会变得更加复杂。这意味着不同的地区，甚至城市和区县都要出台不同的细则。
中国日报称：欠税不缴将被处以罚款，同时它建议德国与南朝鲜尽快同中国缔结关于社会保险的双边协定。根据美国社会保障管理局的网站，中国不是25个签署了相关协定的国家之一。
美国普衡律师事务所北京代表处律师利戈尔内（K.LesliLigorner）说：专家希望外侨和公司注意——很多人都跟我说过他们拒绝接受事实。
【原文】 China Considers New Tax for Foreigners
By JAMES T. AREDDY
SHANGHAI—China may start collecting a new tax from foreign workers and their employers as it extends its social-security program to include the 600,000 foreign nationals who work in the country.
The new tax was referred to in a little-noticed provision in China's Social Insurance Law, published last October and set to take effect July 1, that was highlighted in state media Tuesday. The amounts due will vary by location but foreign nationals working as executives in major cities are expected to face new bills of around $100 a month in exchange for access to retirement benefits and subsidized fees at public hospitals.
Employers of foreign nationals could be on the hook for three times that amount per employee, although analysts aren't sure how rigorously the taxes will be collected.
An article Tuesday in the China Daily, the country's main state-run English-language newspaper, quoted Xu Yanjun, a senior official of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, as saying that "the move will ensure foreign employees in China enjoy the same social insurance benefits as Chinese nationals do."
China is implementing a multiyear, multibillion-dollar effort to build hospitals, restructure pharmaceuticals distribution and improve basic health services to its 1.4 billion people. The point is to modernize a system built in the Communist era where any benefits were provided by the state, but which today is largely pay-as-you-go. The new Social Insurance Law consolidates pension, medical, work-injury, unemployment and maternity insurance programs.
The country has important political and economic reasons to plug holes in its social safety net. Its vast population is aging and anxious about access to basics like health care. Less worry about the future could prompt consumers to spend more of their savings, rather than squirrel it away for emergencies.
If the new social-security taxes are collected aggressively, foreigners are likely to gripe the plan is a grab for their pocketbooks. Many expatriates in China today use international insurance coverage, and few are likely to stay the 15 years required to draw pensions.
But while many foreigners today are short-term residents or top earners with comfortable job packages, analysts say Beijing may be redrawing boundaries in anticipation that as its economy continues to expand it will draw economic migrants who have less to fall back on.
"This is logical in some ways. You work locally, you pay social insurance locally," said Ronan Diot, chairman of the Legal Working Group of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Where it becomes a problem for some expats, he added, is when payment is required for services considered inadequate, such as the level of medical care available in many cities.
The American Chamber of Commerce-China said this wasn't the kind of policy it comments on.
The U.S. is among the nations that requires foreign workers to pay social-security related tax, a system which offers little ability for them to collect if they leave.
Based on what applies to Chinese employees, the cost could be 37% of monthly income charged to employers and 11% for employees, up to a threshold amount set locally, according to Christopher Xing, a China tax partner at KPMG. The charge in Shanghai, for instance, is based on a maximum monthly income of 11,688 yuan, about $1,800, meaning a monthly hit of $666 per worker for employers and $198 for each employee.
Throughout China, taxes are rising, particularly for the wealthy.
"Commentators have treated this as a wealth distribution policy," Mr. Xing said.
The International Monetary Fund, which argues Beijing has scope to reduce taxes overall, has documented a steady climb in its collection. The IMF says China will collect about 18.5% of gross domestic product in taxes this year, compared with 15.6% in 2005.
In its latest annual national rankings of economic freedom, the conservative U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation says China is below average for "fiscal freedom"—though it ranked slightly better than the U.S. The top income tax rate is 45% and the corporate income tax rate is 25%, according to the group.
Exactly how the social security plan will work isn't known, but technically holders of Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong passports have been subject to similar localization since 2005 but have not generally faced much effort to collect, says Mr. Xing of KPMG.
"The question really comes down to enforcement," Mr. Xing said. "In practice, compliance had been patchy."
More details are likely to emerge in coming months. It isn't unusual for China to fill out regulations only months after a law takes effect.
The process is often further complicated by publication of broad national parameters that are meant to serve as guidelines for rules written more locally, sometimes by city district governments.
The China Daily report said fines will apply for nonpayment. It suggested Germans and South Koreans could opt out due to bilateral "social insurance agreements" with China. China isn't among the 25 countries listed on the U.S. Social Security Administration website with such an arrangement.
Experts are encouraging expats and their companies to pay attention nonetheless. "A lot of people I've talked to about this are in denial," says K. Lesli Ligorner, a Shanghai-based partner at law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. | 
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