死亡与纳税

谚语有言，人生只有二事不可避免：死亡与纳税。前几日在燕京学社与杜维明读《孟子》他问道生命不可避免之事是我有意开个玩笑，便将此谚语重复了一遍。虽说本意只是开开玩笑，但我觉得这句话还是挺有道理的：死亡是一个人作为一个个体必须面对的现实，而纳税则是在当前社会政治经济系统下他作为集体一分子为了集体的组织与继续存在的义务。不巧，没想到今天Newsweek的column就多了一篇Allan Sloan写得与这个题目相反的文章，名曰："Death Is Inevitable. Taxes? May Be Not." 作者提出，与其通过购买股份，公司在合并时可以通过现金交易来合法避税。但是长远来看结果还是一样：政府会用不同的办法来收回应缴的税务。如Sloan所说：

“Typically, these deals work by having the buyer and seller split the tax savings. The buyer pays a higher price than it would have paid in a stock deal, but more than offsets that cost by paying lower taxes. The seller's taxes are higher than in a stock sale, but it still comes out ahead because of the higher price it gets.”