純正地道美語第303期(外教講解):First Paycheck第一次對薪水質疑
Emily: Hey, Susan. Have you got a sec? I have some questions about my paycheck. 嘿，蘇珊。能耽誤你一點時間嗎？我想問你關於我薪水的問題。
Susan: You bet, Emily. Pull up a chair. 你肯定嗎，艾米麗，拿個椅子過來坐下說吧。
Emily: Well, this is my first paycheck here in the States and there are a few things I don't understand. First of all, what is this FICA, and SUI Y tax, and why are there deductions both for Medicare and for my health insurance plan? 嗯，這是我在美國第一次領薪水，有些地方我不是很懂。首先，這個FICA和SUI Y稅是什麼。還有，爲什麼我的醫療和健康保險計劃中都有扣除的部分呢？
Susan: OK, let's start from the top of your pay stub. This number here represents your gross pay. 好的，讓我們從你的工資條最開始看起，這裏的數字代表你的工資總額。
Emily: Yes, that's easy enough to understand. 是的，這個很容易理解。
Susan: Then here we have a series of deductions. First off are the federal ones. FICA stands for Federal Insurance Contribution Act, or something like that. It's your federal income tax. And then there's Social Security and Medicare, which are both federal programs to help you out after you retire or if you were unable to work. 這個部分我們有一系列的扣除部分。首先在所有的聯邦的項目中，FICA代表美國社會保險捐款法以及相關的。這是你聯邦收入稅。然後是社會保險和醫療保險，它們都是在你退休或者你無法工作的時候幫助你的聯邦項目。
Emily: All right, I see. So the Medicare isn't actually a health insurance I can use now. 好的，我明白了。所以說，醫療保險事實是我現在不能用的健康保險。
Susan: That's right. Below the federal deductions are the state deductions. There's the state income tax, and then this SUI/SDI tax you were asking about is paying into an unemployment and disability fund that our state has set up, but you can see it's a pretty small quantity that they take. 對了。在聯邦扣除項下面是政府的扣除。包括政府收入稅，還有你在問的SUI/SDI稅，這些都是被徵收到政府建立的失業和殘疾基金裏面的。你可以看到這部分只佔很小的比例。
Emily: Yeah, I don't mind giving them a dollar fifty for that. So there are two separate income taxes—one at a state level and one at a federal level? 是的，我不介意拿出1.5美元給政府。所以說，有兩類收入稅——一個是政府層面的，還有一個是聯邦層面的，對嗎？
Susan: That's right. Not all states have an income tax. Some use higher property taxes or sales taxes instead. 說對了。不是所有的政府都有收入稅。有的是用高收入稅或者營業稅代替的。
Emily: I see. All right, well I think everything else I can figure out on my own. The deductions for health insurance and my 401(K) are pretty self-explanatory. Thanks for your help, Susan. 我知道了。好吧，我想其它的我都可以自己弄明白了。對於我的保險和401(K)也差不多清楚了。謝謝你的幫助，蘇珊。
Susan: No problem! All those deductions do add up, and nobody's net pay is as high as they'd like. I can understand why you'd want some explanation. 沒有問題。所有的扣除加在一起，每個人的淨薪金都沒有他們想象中的要麼高。我能理解爲什麼你想弄明白。
Emily: Yeah, I guess it's the same in the UK, I just never paid much attention. See you later! 是的，我想在英國也一樣，我只是沒有注意，再見！
FICA abbr. （美國）聯邦社會保險捐款法（Federal Insurance Contributions Act）
