美国调节贫富分化的政策措施与制度缺陷

Policy Measures and Institutional Deficiencies in Regulating Wealth Gap in US

贫富差距过大是美国作为发达国家一直为人诟病的问题。从世界范围来看,美国的贫富差距水平远高于日本、德国、瑞典等多数发达国家;从美国自身来看,美国当前的贫富差距水平与19世纪和20世纪相比处于历史高位。多年来,为遏制贫富差距过大导致的不良后果,美国将调节收入分配、缩小贫富差距作为政府干预经济的重要手段,在初次分配中通过反垄断规制、促进就业及保护劳动者权益等措施维护市场公平;在再分配环节,建立以收入税为主的累进税制,调节收入增量与财富存量,并通过完善社会保障制度力求保障低收入群体的基本生活,提高低收入群体的自我发展能力。美国丰富的公益慈善资源也有效促进了资源由富裕群体向贫困群体的流动和转移。虽然美国调节贫富差距的政策措施在一定程度上遏制了贫富分化速度,但由于美国大多数群体秉持个人主义和自由主义的价值观念,政府对收入分配的干预和调节力度有限。繁琐的税收条款及程序、严苛的公共社会保障政策条件也削弱了其再分配制度的有效性。从根本上看,资本主义的内在矛盾和政策局限导致美国分配制度未能在改善贫富差距、促进社会公平中发挥持续有效的积极作用。

The wide wealth gap in the US,a developed country,has long been criticized.From a global perspective,the wealth gap in the US is much larger than that in most developed countries,such as Japan,Germany,and Sweden.From a national perspective,the current wealth gap in the US is at a historical peak compared with that in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.In order to mitigate the adverse consequences of the wide wealth gap,the US government has been regulating income distribution and narrowing the wealth gap as an important means of government intervention in the economy:in the primary distribution,it ensures market equity through anti-monopoly regulations,employment promotion,protection of the rights and interests of workers,and other measures;in the redistribution,it establishes a progressive tax system based on income taxes to regulate the income increment and the stock of wealth,and through the improvement of the social security system,it strives to safeguard the basic livelihoods of low-income groups and improve their self-development ability.The abundant charity resources in the US also effectively promote the flow and transfer of resources from the rich to the poor.While the policy measures implemented in the US to reduce the wealth gap have,to some extent,mitigated its progression,the predominance of individualistic and liberal values among most groups limits the government's capacity for intervention and regulation in income distribution.Complex tax clauses and procedures,along with the stringent requirements associated with public social security policies,undermine the effectiveness of the redistribution system.Fundamentally,the intrinsic contradictions and policy constraints of capitalism have hindered the US distribution system from playing a sustained and effective role in reducing the wealth gap and promoting social fairness.