全球视野 | 放弃对慈善家的英雄崇拜：为什么应该开始对巨额捐赠基金征税？

全球视野

每周从全球各大与公益慈善或社会创新领域相关的媒体或专业网站，去浏览发现当下正在发生的案例和正在思考的观点，然后翻译整理成篇，传达第一手的新鲜资讯。栏目希望可以通过文章的视角或者表述，为会员伙伴们提供启发、打开视野。

文章《It is time to tax the rich… and their foundations/是时候对富人……和他们的基金会征税了》发布在Al Jazeera/半岛电视台的网站上。作者是Lynn Murphy与Alnoor Ladha，他们是Transition Resource Circle的联合主管。文章呼吁对富人及其基金进行征税，指出富人们的财富日益积累，而慈善捐赠则在很大程度上成为了他们减税策略的一部分。文章批评当前慈善模式，认为大部分捐赠基金实际上成为了加剧榨取式资本主义的工具，而不是真正用于创造系统性的变革。最后，文章呼吁人们应该超越对慈善家的英雄崇拜，并对巨额的捐赠基金开始征税。

We are wrapping up yet another tumultuous year in which wars and disasters have ravaged communities across the world. These misfortunes have added to the misery of those who are already facing the ravages of harsh inequality, climate chaos, dispossession and marginalisation. 

我们即将结束又一个动荡的一年。在这一年里，战争和灾难肆虐世界各地的社区。这些不幸事件，让那些已经面临严重不平等、气候混乱、财产被剥夺和边缘化的人们雪上加霜。 

As in the past, part of the global response to these crises included the “generous giving” of various philanthropists. Indeed, their representatives joined heads of state, CEOs, celebrities, royalty, and government officials for the annual United Nations General Assembly in September and then for the UN climate conference (COP28) in November to seek “solutions”. Many of them will meet again for the World Economic Forum in Davos later in January under the same guise. 

与过去一样，全球应对这些危机的部分措施包括各种慈善家的“慷慨解囊”。事实上，他们的代表与国家元首、首席执行官、社会名流、皇室成员和政府官员一起参加了2023年9月的年度联合国大会和11月的联合国气候大会（COP28），以寻求“解决方案”。他们中的许多人，将以同样的名义再次参加2024年1月下旬举行的达沃斯论坛。 

Yet, every year, nothing seems to change as the outcome of these events. This is partly because the very way elites see problems and solutions are limited by their gaze and worldview, which create and perpetuate the crises in the first place. But they are also ineffective because that is their purpose: They are structured to uphold the status quo, not to create deep systemic change. 

然而，这些事件的结果，似乎每年都没有什么变化。这部分原因是因为精英们看待问题和解决问题的方式，受到了他们的视野和世界观的限制，而这正是造成和延续危机的根源。但这些措施之所以是无效的，是因为这就是它们的目的：它们是为了维护现状而创立的，而不是为了创造深层次的系统性变革。 

The philanthropic sector was also not created to address the root causes of systemic problems, but to protect private financial interests. 

慈善行业的建立，不是为了解决系统性问题的根源，而是为了保护私人的经济利益。 

It is time for the world to realise this. The sooner we do so, the sooner we can find more relevant ways to truly bring philanthropy into the important and messy work of real social change. 

现在是时候让世界认识到这一点了。我们越早认识到这一点，就能越早找到更切合实际的方法，真正将慈善事业带入重要且杂乱的真正社会变革工作中。

We all know the rich are getting richer, controlling a huge percentage of wealth across the planet. According to Oxfam’s recent Global Wealth Inequality Report, since 2020, the richest 1 percent have captured almost two-thirds of all new wealth, nearly twice as much as the bottom 99 percent of humanity. 

我们都知道富人越来越富，他们控制着全球大部分的财富。根据乐施会最近发布的《全球财富不平等报告》，自2020年以来，最富有的1%人群获得了几乎所有新增财富的三分之二，这几乎是剩下99%人群的两倍。 

Rich people pay virtually no tax (often 3 percent or less of their income) and their billions just keep on growing through the application of compound interest. In the next 20 years, most of this wealth will move between family members in the wealthiest 1 percent. In the US alone, it is estimated that between $36 trillion and $70 trillion in wealth will be transferred from one generation to another. 

富人几乎不用交税（通常是其收入的3%或更少），他们的数十亿财富将通过复利来不断增长。在未来20年内，这些财富的大部分，将会在最富有的1%的家庭成员之间流动。据估计，仅在美国，就有36万亿至70万亿美元的财富，将从一代转移到另一代。 

Calls to tax the rich are growing globally, and will be even more pronounced as this massive generational wealth transfer takes place. One of the key ways the rich address this pressure is through philanthropy. Philanthropic contributions are commended and perceived as a form of “giving back”. 

向富人征税的呼声，在全球范围内日益高涨。随着这场庞大的财富代际转移的发生，这种呼声将更加强烈。富人应对这一压力的主要方式之一，就是慈善事业。慈善捐赠受到赞扬，并被视为一种“回馈”的形式。 

Currently, the estimated global value of philanthropy is $2.3 trillion, or approximately 2 percent of the world’s GDP, with most of those funds held in endowments. This is larger than the annual GDP of countries like Canada and Brazil. 

目前，全球慈善事业的总值估计为2.3万亿美元，约占世界GDP的2%，其中大部分资金由捐赠基金持有。这比加拿大和巴西等国的年度GDP还高。 

If philanthropy is inherently good, and more philanthropy is going to happen, what is there to worry about? Let us look at how philanthropy actually works in practice. 

如果慈善事业本质上是好的，而且会有更多的慈善活动发生，那还有什么好担心的呢？让我们看看慈善事业在实践中是如何运作的。 

For example, in the US, one aspect of philanthropy is the 5 percent payout rule which was put into US tax law in 1976. According to these legal provisions, a charitable foundation has to give just 5 percent of its overall endowment in the form of grants or programme-related investments annually in order to maintain its not-for-profit status. 

比如，在美国，根据1976年纳入税法的5%支出规则，慈善基金会每年只需要以捐赠或项目相关投资的形式，捐出其总捐赠基金的5%，就能维持其非营利性的身份。

In practice, this rule has become the ceiling for giving grants rather than the floor. The other 95 percent of the endowment is treated as tax-exempt investment money, which most foundations continually grow. 

在实践中，这一规定已成为捐赠的上限而非下限。其余95%的捐赠资金，被视为免税投资资金，大多数基金会都会不断增长这些资金。 

Let us break this down further. In 2020, the average rate of return for foundation endowments was 13.1 percent. If we take a $100m foundation as an example, it would be required to give away just $5m over the course of the year, but its endowment would have grown to $113m minus $5m for a year-end sum of $108m. The following year, this expanded pie of $108m would become $122m minus roughly $5.4m it would give away for a total of roughly $117m. So, the $100m becomes $117m in just two years and continues to grow. 

让我们进一步分析一下。2020年，基金会捐赠基金的平均回报率为13.1%。如果我们以一个1亿美元的基金会为例，它在这一年中只需捐出500万美元，但其捐赠基金增长到了1.13亿美元。所以该基金会的年终总额将会是1.08亿美元。第二年，这1.08亿美元将会增长为1.22亿美元。再减去大约540万美元的捐赠，它的年终总额将会是约1.17亿美元。因此，1亿美元在短短两年内就变成了1.17亿美元，而且还在继续增长。 

These endowment funds – or rather untaxed investment capital – are then funnelled into the usual engines of extractive capitalism: stock markets, bonds, real estate, fossil fuel companies, etc. This results in further wealth accumulation. 

这些捐赠基金，或者说是未被征税的投资资本，随后被注入到榨取式资本主义的常用引擎中：股票市场、债券、房地产、化石燃料公司等。这导致了财富的进一步积累。 

While this 5 percent rule payout started in the US, it has been exported around the world and continues to be promoted as the global model for philanthropy: keep growing endowments, while foundations grant the minimum amount required. Their wealth and power grow while they trickle-down grants to those doing the hard work. 

虽然5%的捐赠比例规则始于美国，但它已被推广到世界各地，并作为全球慈善事业的典范继续推广：保持捐赠基金的增长，而基金会则捐赠要求的最低金额。他们的财富和权力不断增长，而同时他们向那些进行艰苦工作的人提供少量的资金。 

It does not take an accountant or an economist to understand the implications of this model. Only a fraction of tax-exempt philanthropic funding is actually used to address social and ecological issues while the majority is reinvested in life-destroying activities via the extractive markets with high, ongoing returns on investment. 

这不需要是会计师或经济学家，也能理解这种模式的影响。只有一小部分免税的慈善资金，真正用于解决社会和生态问题。而大部分资金则通过高回报的榨取式市场，再投资于破坏生命的活动。

In most countries, any individual or corporation that makes a philanthropic donation receives a direct tax break against their income for the donated amount. As a result, philanthropy is an important part of a larger tax minimisation strategy, further concentrating wealth. 

在大多数国家，任何进行慈善捐赠的个人或公司，都会根据其捐赠金额而获得相应的所得税减免。因此，慈善事业是更大规模的减税战略的重要组成部分，这进一步集中了财富。 

A recent investigative report by The Nation magazine estimated that Bill Gates may have received more money back in the form of tax breaks than he has given in philanthropic grants through the activities of the Gates Foundation. 

据《国家/The Nation》最近的一份调查报告估计，通过盖茨基金会的活动，比尔·盖茨以税收减免的形式获得的金额，可能比他通过慈善捐赠提供的资金更多。 

Another example involves MacKenzie Scott, one of the largest philanthropic donors in the US. Over the past couple of years, she has been celebrated for the size, type and speed of her grants. According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, in 2023, her wealth continued to grow, even though she gave away significant funds. 

另一个例子涉及麦肯锡·斯科特，她是美国最大的慈善捐赠人之一。在过去几年里，她因其捐赠的规模、类型和速度而备受赞誉。根据彭博社的亿万富翁指数，在2023年，尽管她捐出了大量资金，但她的财富仍在继续增长。 

Despite receiving huge tax benefits and doling out the smallest fraction of their endowments as grants, philanthropists are elevated in our society as benevolent, generous, and magnanimous individuals. 

尽管慈善家获得了巨额的税收优惠，尽管他们只将其捐赠资金中的一小部分作为赠款，但在我们的社会中，他们被尊为仁慈、慷慨和宽宏大量的个人。 

It is time to drop the hero worship of philanthropists and go beyond simple declarations to tax the rich. We need to start taxing endowments. 

现在是时候放弃对慈善家的英雄崇拜。不只是简单地喊口号说要对富人征税。我们需要开始对捐赠基金征税。 

Consider what a tax on these massive philanthropic endowments could do. For example, democratically run citizens’ funds created with the proceeds from taxing endowments could redistribute billions of dollars to front-line communities, Indigenous peoples, climate refugees, and even ecologies who have suffered the most from the extraction of resources and wealth. 

想一想对这些巨额慈善捐赠基金征税，可能带来什么影响。例如，利用对捐赠基金征税的收益，来建立民主管理的公民基金。这可以将数十亿美元重新分配给一线社区、土著居民、气候难民，甚至分配给因为资源和财富的榨取而受害最深的生态环境。 

This can be the starting place for deeper structural change in philanthropy. What is needed is nothing short of a shift in worldview, a commensurate alternative approach based on a life-centric economy and a genuine desire to address the global poly-crisis. 

这可以成为慈善事业的更深层次结构变革的起点。我们所需要的不仅仅是世界观的转变，还需要一种基于以生命为中心的经济和真正愿意解决全球多重危机的替代方法。 

It is time to move from systems protecting individual and institutional entitlements to ones that are rooted in redistributing wealth for the collective entrustment of futures worth living. 

现在是时候从保护个人和机构权利的制度，转向以重新分配财富为基础的制度，以实现值得生活的、集体托付的未来。