特朗普2017年仅缴税750美元,他是如何做到的?
The small amount of federal income taxes President Trump paid in both 2016 and 2017 — just $750 each year — has become the focus of much attention since it was revealed in a New York Times investigation. The figures below, drawn from Mr. Trump’s tax-return data for 2017, show how his accountants arrived at that figure for one of those years.
自从《纽约时报》的调查报道披露了特朗普总统在2016和2017年只缴纳极少量联邦所得税——每年仅有750美元——之后,这件事成了很多人关注的焦点。以下数据来自特朗普在2017年的纳税申报数据,显示了他的会计是如何在其中一年算出这样的数字的。
Donald J. Trump’s income in 2017
唐纳德·J·特朗普2017年的收入

Although Mr. Trump donates his salary to the government, it is subject to income tax along with his other earnings. But because Mr. Trump’s overall income was negative, he did not owe regular income tax on any of it.
虽然特朗普将薪水捐给了政府,这笔收入仍要与他的其他收入一起算进所得税。但由于特朗普的总收入为负数,他不需要缴纳任何一项常规所得税。
He was, however, still subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax, a parallel tax system that reduces the benefit of some deductions, preventing wealthy people from erasing their tax liability altogether. Most significantly, the A.M.T. formula disallowed $45 million in losses that Mr. Trump had carried over from prior years.
不过,他仍需缴纳替代最低税(Alternative Minimum Tax,简称AMT),这是一种并行税收制度,减少了某些减免项目的好处,使富人不能完全消除纳税义务。最重要的是,根据AMT的计算公式,特朗普从往年结转的4500万美元亏损会被剔除减免范围。
But tax laws gave him one more line on which to reduce the A.M.T. Mr. Trump had $22.7 million in General Business Credit, much of it carried forward from prior years, that he could apply. The credit is a smorgasbord of tax incentives and givebacks to business owners, and in Mr. Trump’s case they ranged from credits of $322,926 for Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on employee tips to at least $1.5 million related to rehabilitating the Old Post Office in Washington.
但税法给了特朗普另一条路,让他有了2270万美元的一般营业优惠(General Business Credits)额度,其中大部分都是从往年结转的,可以用来申请减免AMT。这是一种对企业主的税收激励和回馈的混合机制,按照特朗普的情况,这些减免包括许多项目,有322926美元的因雇员小费缴纳社会安全福利(Social Security)和联邦医疗保险(Medicare)税费,也有与整修华盛顿老邮局(Old Post Office)相关的至少150万美元费用等等。
The business credit cannot be used to get a refund; it can only be applied against taxes owed. Mr. Trump had more than enough to cancel out his $7,435,857 tax bill. But on the Form 3800 for the General Business Credit, his accountants subtracted $750 from his allowable credit. Why they did that is not clear. But the result was a total federal income tax liability of $750.
营业优惠不能用于退税,只能用于抵扣欠税。特朗普的额度绰绰有余,完全足以抵消他7435857美元的税单。但在一般营业优惠的3800表格中,他的会计从他的可用优惠额度中减去了750美元。尚不清楚他们为何要这样做。但其结果是,联邦所得税总额成了750美元。