Longreads Best of 2013: My Favorite Stories About Taxes (and Twist-Ties)

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian is a writer and an editor.

阿托莎·阿拉克西亚·亚伯拉罕米安 (Atossa Araxia Abrahamian) 是一位作家和编辑。

Taxes aren’t boring—they’re just supremely difficult to write about in a compelling way.

税收并不无聊——只是很难以一种令人信服的方式来描述它们。

These three stories stand out because they illustrate the far-reaching consequences of different countries’ tax policies through a few very influential people:

这三个故事之所以引人注目，是因为它们通过一些非常有影响力的人物说明了不同国家税收政策的深远影响：

## 1.

## 1.

“Marty Sullivan figured out how the world’s biggest companies avoided billions in taxes.

“马蒂·沙利文弄清楚了世界上最大的公司如何避税数十亿美元。

Here’s how he wants to stop them” (Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post, 2013)

这就是他想要阻止他们的方式”（Steven Pearlstein，华盛顿邮报，2013）

In his affectionate profile of tax expert Marty Sullivan, Steven Pearlstein breaks down everything that’s wrong about the US tax code in Sullivan’s nonpartisan, almost technocratic view—and goes on to explain why politics make it so hard to alter, let alone fix, the system.

史蒂文·珀尔斯坦 (Steven Pearlstein) 在对税务专家马蒂·沙利文 (Marty Sullivan) 的深情描写中，以沙利文的无党派、近乎技术官僚的观点剖析了美国税法中的所有错误，并接着解释了为什么政治使得改变该体系变得如此困难，更不用说修复该体系了。

Not exactly action-movie material, but it’s handled so deftly that I couldn’t put it down.

不完全是动作电影的素材，但它处理得如此巧妙，让我爱不释手。

## 2.

## 2.

“A Tale of Two Londons” (Nicholas Shaxson, Vanity Fair, 2013)

“两个伦敦的故事”（尼古拉斯·沙克森，《名利场》，2013 年）

In Vanity Fair, longtime tax writer Nicholas Shaxson shows how the City of London became a hub for tax-free global capital through the story of One Hyde Park, the world’s most expensive residential building, its fabulously wealthy and faceless owners, and the offshore accounts they used to buy and register the properties anonymously.

在《名利场》中，长期税务作家尼古拉斯·沙克森通过世界上最昂贵的住宅楼海德公园一号的故事，展示了伦敦金融城如何成为全球免税资本的中心，其极其富有且不知名的业主，以及他们用来匿名购买和注册房产的离岸账户。

## 3.

## 3.

“Man Making Ireland Tax Avoidance Hub Proves Local Hero” (Jesse Drucker, Bloomberg, 2013)

“爱尔兰避税中心的创建者被证明是当地的英雄”（Jesse Drucker，彭博社，2013 年）

Finally, Bloomberg’s Jesse Drucker profiles Feargal O’Rourke, the man who helped transform Ireland into a “hub for tax avoidance” for multinationals like Apple and Facebook.

最后，彭博社的杰西·德鲁克 (Jesse Drucker) 介绍了费格尔·奥罗克 (Feargal O’Rourke)，他帮助爱尔兰成为苹果和 Facebook 等跨国公司的“避税中心”。

Drucker withholds judgment (this is Bloomberg, headline and all) but O’Rourke’s mercenary wiles shine through a few well-chosen anecdotes.

德鲁克保留了判断（这是彭博社的标题和所有内容），但奥罗克的唯利是图的诡计通过一些精心挑选的轶事而闪耀。

Choice quote, on Breaking Bad: “I don’t know what it says that we can be rooting for a guy on the dark side of the law.”

《绝命毒师》中的精选引言：“我不知道我们可以支持一个法律黑暗面的人，这意味着什么。”

## Bonus Pick: Most Fascinating Thing I Learned from a Story This Year

## 奖励精选：今年我从故事中学到的最有趣的事情

## “Twist-Ties vs. Plastic Clips: Tiny Titans Battle for the Bakery Aisle” (Paul Lukas, Bloomberg Businessweek, 2013)

## “扭结带与塑料夹：小巨人争夺面包店过道”（Paul Lukas，彭博商业周刊，2013 年）

My favorite business stories are the ones that reveal how much time, energy and thought goes into seemingly mundane consumer goods.

我最喜欢的商业故事是那些揭示了在看似平凡的消费品上投入了多少时间、精力和思想的故事。

This Businessweek article about the ‘bakery bag closure and reclosure market’ is a great example of that.

这篇关于“面包袋封口和重新封口市场”的《商业周刊》文章就是一个很好的例子。

Did you know bag closures generate about $10 million in sales per year?

您知道袋子封口每年产生约 1000 万美元的销售额吗？

That studies have failed to resolve whether consumers prefer clips or twist-ties?

这项研究未能解决消费者更喜欢夹子还是扭结带的问题？

And that there are people whose job it is to sell commercial bakeries on the virtues of these objects?

还有人的工作就是利用这些物品的优点来销售商业面包店吗？

All of this makes perfect sense, of course (hi, capitalism!) but it takes a story like this one to get you thinking.

当然，所有这些都是完全有道理的（嗨，资本主义！），但需要像这样的故事才能让你思考。