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  3. Economic refugees have traditionally lined up to get into America. Lately, they have been lining up to leave. In the past few mo

Economic refugees have traditionally lined up to get into America. Lately, they have been lining up to leave. In the past few mo

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问题    Economic refugees have traditionally lined up to get into America. Lately, they have been lining up to leave. In the past few months, half a dozen biggish companies have announced plans to merge with foreign partners and in the process move their corporate homes abroad. The motive is simple; corporate taxes are lower in Ireland, Britain and, for that matter, almost everywhere else than they are in America.
   In Washington, D. C. , policymakers have reacted with indignation. Jack Lew, the treasury secretary, has questioned the companies’ patriotism and called on Congress to outlaw such transactions. His fellow Democrats are eager to oblige, and some Republicans are willing to listen.
   The proposals are misguided. Tightening the rules on corporate "inversions" , as these moves are called, does nothing to deal with the reason why so many firms want to leave; America has the rich world’s most dysfunctional corporate-tax system. It needs fundamental reform, not new complications.
   America’s corporate tax has two horrible flaws. The first is the tax rate, which at 35% is the highest among the 34 mostly rich-country members of the OECD. Yet it raises less revenue than the OECD average thanks to countless loopholes and tax breaks aimed at everything from machinery investment to NASCAR race tracks. Last year these breaks cost $ 150 billion in forgone revenue, more than half of what America collected in total corporate taxes.
   The second flaw is that America levies tax on a company’s income no matter where in the world it is earned. In contrast, every other large rich country taxes only income earned within its borders. Here, too, America’s system is absurdly ineffective at collecting money. Firms do not have to pay tax on foreign profits until they bring them back home. Not surprisingly, many do not: American multinationals have some $ 2 trillion sitting on their foreign units’ balance-sheets, and growing.
   All this imposes big costs on the economy. The high rate discourages investment and loopholes distort it, because decisions are driven by tax considerations rather than a project’s economic merits. The tax rate companies actually pay varies wildly, depending on their type of business and the creativity of their lawyers; some pay close to zero, others the full 35%. But as other countries chopped their rates and America’s stayed the same, the incentive to flee grew. A possible solution is to lower the corporate rate, eliminate tax breaks and move America from a worldwide system to a territorial one.
According to Paragraph 2, the act of some companies has______.
选项 A、overstepped state laws
B、annoyed patriotic groups
C、aroused public indignation
D、irritated government officials
答案D
解析 细节题。定位到第二段。题干的the act of some companies指第一段提到的“公司撤离美国”这一行为，第二段首句是整段的中心句，也是该题的答案句。本题答案关键提示为：policymakers have reacted with indignation“政策制定者们表现得愤懑不已”。与之同义替换的选项为[D]irritated government officials“激怒了政府官员”；其中，irritated“激怒”=indignation“愤怒”：government officials“政府官员”=policymakers“政策制定者”。选项[A]overstepped state laws“逾越了州法律”：与该项相关的句子是：called on Congress to outlaw such transactions“呼吁国会禁止这类交易”：但是文章并没有提到这种行为逾越法律，故该项错误。选项[B]annoyed patriotic groups“惹恼了爱国群体”；与该句对应的信息是：Jack Lew，the treasury secretary，has questioned the companies’patriotism；文章提到某官员质疑这些企业的爱国主义，并没有提到patriotic groups“爱国群体”一词，故该项属于无中生有。选项[C]aroused public indignation“引起了公愤”；原文说：policymakers have reacted with indignation：文中并没有提到public“公众的”一词，故该项属于偷换概念。综上，本题答案为[D]。
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