全球视野 | 巴塔哥尼亚使他成为了亿万富翁，现在他要把它还给地球：他是如何拯救气候的？是为了避税吗？

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is giving his company away — to planet Earth, he announced Wednesday. 

巴塔哥尼亚创始人伊冯·乔伊纳德于9月14日宣布，他将把他的公司送出去——送给地球。 

“I never wanted to be a businessman,” Chouinard wrote in an open letter announcing the transfer of his roughly $3-billion controlling stake in the company to a trust and a nonprofit. 

乔伊纳德在一封公开信中写道：“我从没想过成为一名商人。”乔伊纳德宣布将他在公司的大约30亿美元的控股权转让给一个信托和一个非营利组织。 

It’s a sentiment he’s expressed time and time again, telling the Los Angeles Times in 1994: “I can sit down one on one with the president of any company, any time, anywhere, and convince them that growth is evil.” 

他一次又一次地表达这个观点。他在1994年告诉《洛杉矶时报》：“我可以在任何时间、任何地点与任何公司的总裁一对一地坐下来，让他们相信公司增长是邪恶的。” 

Chouinard and his family transferred their voting stock to the newly established Patagonia Purpose Trust, which will ensure that Patagonia maintains its commitment to corporate responsibility and donating its profits. The rest of the company, about 98% of its shares, was donated to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit organization that will receive all of the company’s profits, roughly $100 million a year, and use them to fight climate change. 

乔伊纳德和他的家人将他们有投票权的股票转让给了新成立的巴塔哥尼亚目的信托/Patagonia Purpose Trust，该信托将确保巴塔哥尼亚保持其对企业责任和捐赠利润的承诺。公司的其余部分，约98%的股份被捐赠给Holdfast Collective。这是一个非营利组织，将获得公司所有利润(大约每年1亿美元)，并将其用于应对气候变化。 

The deal is structured in ways that also bring the billionaire other perks, by letting him and his family keep control of Patagonia while shielding them from tax bills that could have totaled hundreds of millions of dollars. 

这笔交易的结构也给这位亿万富翁带来了其他好处，让他和他的家人保持对巴塔哥尼亚公司的控制权，同时使他们免于支付总额可能达到数亿美元的税款。 

While many billionaires make living donations with tax and estate planning as the primary considerations, Chouinard seems to have structured his Patagonia transfer with at least a few purposes in mind. Holdfast is a 501(c)(4), a nonprofit that can make unlimited political donations — unlike its cousin, the 501(c)(3). For that reason, any giving to a 501(c)(4) isn’t eligible for income-tax deductions. In addition, the Patagonia founder will owe $17.5 million in gift taxes for the shares he transferred to the trust. 

虽然许多亿万富翁进行捐赠时，主要出于税收和遗产规划的考虑。但乔伊纳德似乎在安排他的巴塔哥尼亚公司的转让时，考虑了至少几个目的。Holdfast是一个501(c)(4)的非营利组织，它可以进行无限制的政治捐赠。这与它的表亲501(c)(3)不同。由于这个原因，任何对501(c)(4)的捐赠都没有资格享受所得税减免。此外，巴塔哥尼亚公司的创始人将因其转让给信托的股份而需要缴纳1750万美元的赠与税。 

Still, the moves mean Chouinard won’t have to pay the federal capital gains taxes he would have owed had he sold the company, an option he said was under consideration. On a $3 billion sale, that bill could be more than $700 million. It also helps Chouinard avoid the US estate and gift tax, which is a 40% levy on large fortunes when they’re transferred to heirs. 

尽管如此，这些举措意味着乔伊纳德将不必支付他在出售公司时本应缴纳的联邦资本利得税。乔伊纳德曾考虑过这个做法。在30亿美元的交易中，该笔费用可能超过7亿美元。这也帮助乔伊纳德避免了美国的遗产税和赠与税，即对巨额财富转让给继承人时征收40%的税。 

“There was never an ask from the Chouinard family that we avoid taxes” when structuring the transaction, said Corley Kenna, a Patagonia spokeswoman. The company has a long history of paying its taxes and “supporting tax increases that could benefit the planet,” she added, noting that Patagonia’s CEO backed a higher corporate rate in support of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan. 

巴塔哥尼亚公司的发言人科利·肯纳说：“在安排交易时，乔伊纳德家族从未要求我们避税。”她补充表示，巴塔哥尼亚公司在纳税和“支持可能造福地球的增税”方面有着悠久的历史。她指出，该公司的CEO支持提高企业税率，以支持拜登总统的“重建更好未来”计划。 

Chouinard said in his statement that the trust was “created to protect the company’s values” of preserving nature through business practices. It already gives away 1% of sales each year to environmental nonprofits. 

乔伊纳德在他的声明中说，这个信托是“为了保护公司的价值观”，即通过商业行为保护自然。该公司已经将每年销售额的1%捐给了环境非营利组织。 

Still, Ray Madoff, a professor at Boston College Law School, said there’s a broader question of whether the ultra-wealthy should be able to circumvent taxes. 

不过，波士顿学院法学院教授雷·麦道夫认为，还有一个更广泛的问题：那就是超级富豪是否应该能够规避税收。 

“We are letting people opt out of supporting all the expenses of government to do whatever they want with their money,” Madoff said. “This is highly problematic from the point of view of democracy, and it can mean a higher tax burden for the rest of Americans.” 

麦道夫说：“我们允许人们选择不支持政府的所有开支，让他们可以随心所欲地使用自己的钱。从民主的角度来看，这是非常有问题的。对其他美国人来说，这可能意味着更高的税负。” 

Donating to a foundation or other 501(c)(3) nonprofit could have brought even more tax savings — namely, with a charitable deduction offsetting other income — but US rules make it difficult for those organizations to own private businesses, said Ellen Harrison, a tax attorney at McDermott Will & Emery in Washington. Using a 501(c)(4) and trust lets Chouinard and his family continue to effectively control the company (family members will remain on its board under the new ownership structure). 

华盛顿McDermott Will & Emery律师事务所的税务律师艾伦·哈里森说，捐赠给基金会或其他501(c)(3)非营利组织本可以带来更多的节税，即用慈善扣除抵消其他收入。但美国的规定使这些组织难以拥有私人企业。使用501(c)(4)和信托的方式让乔伊纳德和他的家族继续有效地控制公司（在新的所有权结构下，家族成员将继续留在董事会中）。 

“I suspect the driver was trying to preserve the company,” Harrison said of the transaction. Founders often “almost view these companies as part of their family.” 

哈里森在谈到这笔交易时说：“我怀疑掌舵者是想保持公司。因为创始人常常‘几乎将这些公司视为他们家庭的一部分’。” 

The Ventura-based outdoor apparel company was founded on Yvon Chouinard’s love of the great outdoors. He grew up in Burbank and took to climbing the Tehachapi Mountains in his teens, surfed along Highway 1, and eventually became a skilled rock climber who lived out of his car in the Yosemite Valley. 

这家位于文图拉的户外服装公司是基于伊冯·乔伊纳德对户外运动的热爱而成立的。他在伯班克长大，十几岁时就开始攀登特哈查比山脉，沿着1号公路冲浪，最终成为一名熟练的攀岩者，在优胜美地山谷中以车为家。 

In 1957, he started by creating his own line of reusable climbing spikes that were hammered into the rock. When he discovered his hardware was severely damaging the rock, he phased out of that business and introduced an alternative in 1972 — and it quickly became a hit with climbers. In an early catalog, he espoused the importance of enjoying the wilderness while preserving it, leaving no trace behind. 

1957年，伊冯·乔伊纳德开始创造自己的可重复使用攀岩钉子系列，这些钉子被攀岩者用于敲入岩石。当他发现他的硬件严重破坏了岩石时，他逐步退出了这项业务，并在1972年推出了一种替代产品。该替代产品很快就受到了登山者的欢迎。在早期的产品目录中，他信奉在享受荒野的同时保护它的重要性，不留下任何痕迹。 

“We have always considered Patagonia an experiment in doing business in unconventional ways,” Chouinard wrote in his book “Let My People Go Surfing.” “None of us were certain it was going to be successful, but we did know that we were not interested in ‘doing business as usual.’” 

乔伊纳德在他的书《让我的人去冲浪》中写道：“我们一直认为巴塔哥尼亚是以非常规方式开展生意的实验。我们都不确定它是否会成功，但我们确定知道我们对‘照常做生意’不感兴趣。” 

Over the decades, Patagonia has displayed a unique brand of corporate activism backed by its commitment to sustainability. In 2018, the company changed its mission statement to something plain and direct: “Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.” In more recent years, its environmental activism has extended directly into the political sphere as well. 

几十年来，巴塔哥尼亚展示了独特的企业行动主义品牌，并以其对可持续发展的承诺为后盾。2018年，该公司将其使命宣言改为简单而直接的内容：“巴塔哥尼亚的业务是为了拯救我们的地球家园。”近年来，它的环境行动主义也直接延伸到了政治领域。 

It’s unclear to what extent Chouinard’s Holdfast nonprofit will get involved in politics, since the issue of climate change is broad and could entail lobbying for legislation or apolitical charitable work, Harrison said. 

税务律师艾伦·哈里森表示，目前还不清楚乔伊纳德的Holdfast非营利组织将在多大程度上参与政治，因为气候变化问题涉及面很广泛，可能需要游说立法或进行非政治性的慈善工作。 

“Battling climate change can mean a lot of things,” she said. 

她说：“与气候变化作斗争可能意味着很多事情。” 

With a historically polarized government leading to repeated stalemates on legislation, it’s likely that more billionaires will see 501(c)(4)s as the most expedient way to ensure their policy aims and charitable intentions outlive them. 

由于历史上两极分化的政府导致立法一再陷入僵局，很可能更多的亿万富翁将会把501(c)(4)视为确保他们的政策目标和慈善意图比他们活得更长久的最有效方法。 

“If someone wanted to leave their votes behind after they die, we don’t let people do that,” Madoff said. “But through these organizations” they’re doing something similar, she said. “And their money is so much more powerful than a single vote." 

波士顿学院法学院教授雷·麦道夫说：“如果有人想在死后留下他们的选票，我们不会允许他们这么做。但通过这些组织，他们正在做类似的事情。而且他们的金钱比一张选票要强大得多。” 

John Elkington, a pioneering authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development who is credited with coining the terms “green growth” and “triple bottom line.”, said the announcement was “totally in character, yet still blew my socks off.” 

约翰·埃尔金顿是企业责任和可持续发展方面的先锋权威，他被认为是“绿色增长”和“三重底线”等术语的创造者。埃尔金顿说，乔伊纳德的这一宣布“完全符合他的性格，但仍然让我大吃一惊”。 

Chouinard’s move puts Patagonia “light-years” ahead of other corporations aspiring to balance business interests and social responsibility, Elkington said. 

埃尔金顿说，乔伊纳德的举动使巴塔哥尼亚公司比其他希望平衡商业利益和社会责任的公司领先“一大截”。 

“For me, Yvon has always represented true north,” Elkington said. “And hundreds of CEOs and other business leaders will now be forced to reconsider their own takes on the climate challenge.” 

埃尔金顿说：“对我来说，伊冯一直代表着真北（译者注：真北是沿着地球表面朝向地理北极的方向，也用作比喻指引人们在正确的路线或正确的方向上前进的价值观）。而数以百计的CEO和其他商业领袖现在将被迫重新考虑他们自己对气候挑战的看法。”