IMF对英国预算支招：优先房产税改革与扩大税基 银行税不应是首选
伦敦——国际货币基金组织（IMF）表示，英国财政部长 John Healey在本月预算中应优先考虑房产税改革、扩大增值税等销售税的税基，并让福利支出更有针对性，而不是优先向银行或劳动者加税。IMF欧洲部副主任 Helge Berger在曼谷IMF年会期间的记者会上作出上述表示。
IMF赞扬英国财政政策过去两年削减了借款，并以2029/30年度实现剔除长期投资的预算平衡为目标。Healey已承诺在本月28日的预算中不提高所得税与国民保险缴款的主要税率，但他上周四对提高每年约10亿英镑（约13亿美元）的银行利润附加税保留了空间。Berger说，提高银行税是一个选项，未必会让大企业更难融资，但不应是首选。
IMF同时指出，英国税收收入已升至经济总量的40%，处于历史高位。Berger建议在支出端多做工作，包括取消养老金「三重锁」与更精准地发放社会福利。首相 Andy Burnham此前表示将取消「三重锁」，并把省下的资金部分用于更慷慨的老年护理。（GSM 据路透社报道）
IMF: Raising Bank Tax Is Not the Best Choice for UK Budget
LONDON — British finance minister John Healey should favour property tax reform, broader sales taxes and better-targeted welfare spending ahead of raising taxes on banks or workers in his annual budget this month, the International Monetary Fund said. Helge Berger, the IMF's deputy director for Europe, told a press conference at the Fund's annual meetings in Bangkok that the IMF praised British fiscal policy for reducing borrowing over the past couple of years and for targeting a balanced budget, excluding long-term investment, by 2029/30.
Healey has promised to stick to a pledge not to raise the main rates of income tax or social security dues at his October 28 budget, but he kept the door open to increasing a bank profit surcharge that raises about 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) a year. Raising bank taxes was an option and would not necessarily make it harder for large companies to get finance, Berger said, but it should not be the first choice: "There are still areas where Britain can make additional fiscal headroom available: modernising the property tax system, broadening the basis of sales taxes like VAT. We would not recommend increasing labour taxes."
The Fund also highlighted that British tax revenue had risen to a historically high 40 percent of the economy, and suggested doing more on the expenditure side, including removing the pension "triple lock" and better-targeting social benefits. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will scrap the triple lock system that ensures state pensions outstrip pay growth, and plans to use the savings to partially finance more generous social care for the elderly. (GSM, based on Reuters reporting)
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：伦敦英格兰银行。Bank of England, London. Photo by Diliff, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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