单选题 Imagine a Briton"s new year resolutions: he vows to stop smoking 20 cigarettes a day, and abandon his daily bottle of claret and nightly whisky. Confronting his enlarging gut, he may even promise to make his ten-mile round-trip commute by bike, not car.
What admirable goals. And since this gentleman"s annual vice bill comes to around 7,500 pounds, he will be well-rewarded for his virtue even before considering the effect on his health. But the Treasury might rejoice a little less. In the fiscal year 2010-11 nearly 10% of all taxes collected came from duty on alcohol, tobacco, and fuel as well as from vehicle excise duty, a tax that falls most heavily on the least efficient cars. You may say that New Year resolutions are notoriously short-lived, but the longer-run trend still looks bad for the exchequer. Because many vices are in constant decline, so are receipts, predicts the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Smoking rates have been falling for decades, attributed partly to high taxes, and partly to public health campaigns changing social mores and a smoking ban in workplaces introduced across Britain in 2007. The government could respond by increasing sin tax rates. But when duties rise, so do the incentives to get around them, by buying abroad or on the black market. This is particularly common with cigarettes, which are easy for individual smokers to import. In 2000 non-duty consumption reached a peak of 78%, a consequence of the weak euro as well as a sudden increase in taxes of inflation plus 5%.
Petrol taxes are leaking more quickly. As with smoking, behavior is changing: car and van mileage has fallen for four consecutive years, partly because petrol is so expensive and new vehicles have better engines. These trends, as well as the rise of electric and hybrid cars, are forecast to compress receipts from 1.8% of GDP in 2010 to just 1.1% in 2030.
There are, of course, advantages to Britons giving up their filthy habits. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death in Britain. It cost the National Health Service more than 5 billion pounds a year in 2005-06, some 5.5% of its budget at the time, according to an Oxford University study. But any benefit to the NHS may be short-lived. Those who do not perish from diseases associated with smoking are likely to die more slowly of age-related illnesses.
In moral terms, a decline in sin tax receipts suggests a job well done. But in fiscal terms, a hole is a hole. As the OBR sees it, falling Treasury income means Britons will be getting, in effect, an unannounced tax cut. Other taxes could therefore rise without leaving people worse off in aggregate. The maths makes sense. For the virtuous, though, being clobbered with new taxes may seem a rather poor reward.
单选题 An ordinary Britain"s New Year resolution is mentioned in Paragraph 1 to ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】例证题
[解析] 本题考查对文章一、二段内容的理解。作者之所以在开篇就提到一个普通英国人的新年愿望，是为了引出财政税收这个话题。因为现在针对烟草，酒精以及汽车所征收的税收占到了财政总税收的10%左右，因此，如果英国人决定减少抽烟、喝酒等坏习惯，会给英国税收带来重创。因此本题的正确答案应该选D。A选项的说法虽然本身可能是正确的，人们改变生活方式的确有可能是因为税收调节而引起的，但是这并不是作者开篇提到人们生活方式改变的原因。B选项利用文章第二段的short-lived一词设置干扰，第二段明确指出税收的减少并不是一个暂时的过程，而是一种长期的趋势。C选项与文章内容无关。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that the sin tax is ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推理题
[解析] 本题考查对文章中反复出现却没有给出明确概念解释的关键词“sin tax”的理解。根据对文章内容的理解，“sin tax”指的就是政府针对烟酒、汽车等征收的税收。之所以把这些税收称之为“sin tax”，是因为吸烟、喝酒、驾车等属于不良的生活习惯，税收作为一种经济调节手段能够抑制人们对于这类产品的消费。因此判断，A选项能够符合文中描述“sin tax”的税种特点。B选项错误，虽然说“sin tax”是英国财政收入的重要来源，但是根据第二段的内容我们知道，它在税收收入中的比重只占到10%，还不是最重要的税收来源。C选项错误，通读全文，不难推测，“sin tax”是一种基于消费行为所征收的税种，和基于个人收入征收的个人所得税有本质区别。D选项错误，“sin tax”最终的承担者是消费者，否则就不会出现税收增高消费减少的情况了。
单选题 According to Paragraph 3, increasing tax rates on cigarettes is not a reasonable way for government to counteract effects of less people smoking because ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节事实题
[解析] 本题考查对文章第三段中一个细节内容的理解。第三段第一句话中提到英国的吸烟率在过去的几十年中持续下降，除了烟草税的调节作用之外，健康运动以及公共场所的禁烟令都起到了一定的作用。接着在第二句话中作者讲到政府当然可以通过提高烟草税率来弥补税收损失，但是这样做只会刺激消费者到国外或者黑市上购买香烟，以逃避高额税率。“But when duties rise, so do the incentives to get around them, by buying abroad or on the black market.”因此本题的正确答案选B。A选项虽然在现实生活中有可能发生，却不是第三段提到的主要原因。C和D选项利用weak euro和inflation设置无关干扰。
单选题 According to the last paragraph, in moral terms, a decline in sin tax receipts suggests that ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】句子理解题
[解析] 根据题干中的关键词，in moral terms锁定文章最后一段前两句话。“In moral terms, a decline in sin tax receipts suggests a job well done. But in fiscal terms, a hole is a hole.”在道德层面上，恶行税的减少是一件好事，它代表政府通过税收来抑制不良消费的目的已经达到；但是在财政收入上来讲，税收的减少必须通过其他途径来填补。在了解了这层意思之后，不难判断本题的正确答案应该选A。B选项是无关干扰项。C选项利用public health campaign设置干扰，虽然政府应该大力宣传健康理念，但是却并不是本文讨论的内容，本文讨论的是政府税收调节和恶行税收减少之间的关系。D选项利用moral一词设置干扰，恶行税收减少只能说明英国人生活方式更健康了，并不能说明英国人道德水准提高了。
单选题 The lost revenue from sin taxes may be balanced by ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节事实题
[解析] 本题是一道综合细节事实题，要做对有一定的难度。作者在文章最后一段提到“a hole is a hole”的意思是说：政府在恶行税收方损失不小，一定会想其他办法来弥补这一漏洞。那政府弥补的方式是什么呢?是不是可以像A选项所说的通过提高恶行税率来弥补呢?文章第三段中就明确指出这种做法是行不通的，因为这会促使人们通过非法渠道获得烟酒，丝毫无助于税收的增加。B选项也是错误的，文章倒数第二段中，作者提到恶习的减少会降低政府在治疗由不良生活习惯引起的疾病方面的支出，但是长期来看，医疗费用也不会有所减少，因为戒掉了烟酒的人最终也会因为其他慢性或急性病而死亡，而政府也需要在这些疾病上支付医疗费。C选项是正确答案，文章最后一段倒数第三句话明确指出，“Other taxes could therefore rise without leaving people worse off in aggregate.”弥补政府财政损失的方法就是增加其他税收的收入，那么政府要么需要增加新的税种，要么要提高现有税种的税率。D选项中的个人所得税，原文中完全没有涉及。