英國計劃對中老年人徵收'年齡稅'

The middle-aged and over 65s in the UK may soon be taxed to cover the cost of their later life care if proposals are given the go ahead.

如果相關提案獲得政府批准的話，英國中年人及65歲以上的老年人，可能很快就要繳稅以支付自己晚年生活護理的費用了。

Matt Hancock, the Health and Social Care Secretary, said he was "attracted to" a cross-party plan for a compulsory premium deducted from the earnings of over 40s and over 65s.

英國衛生及社會保障大臣馬特·漢考克表示，他“很有興趣”達成一項跨黨派計劃，從40歲以上以及65歲以上人羣的收入中強制性扣除保險費。

Hancock's comments suggest that the scheme will be discussed by Parliament and published by Christmas as one of their Green Paper proposals.

漢考克的話暗示，該計劃將提交議會討論，在聖誕節前作爲衛生及社會保障綠皮書的提案之一發布。

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The proposal is based on the German healthcare system where all workers over 40 pay 2.5% of their wages into a pot formally reserved for social care.

該提案是基於德國的護理制度提出的，德國所有40歲以上的勞動者都需向一個社保資金池繳納2.5%的收入。

Mr Hancock told The Sunday Telegraph: "One of the reasons I'm attracted to the proposal is that it's cross party."

漢考克向《星期日電訊報》透露：“我對這一提案很感興趣，是因爲它是跨黨派的”

"This is a problem which can only be solved by people coming together behind a solution, because as soon as it's turned into a political football it makes it extremely difficult to make any progress at all."

“這是一個只有人們團結起來才能解決的問題，因爲一旦它變成了一個政治難題，就很難取得任何進展。”

"I'm prepared to have a range of options and see if we can build a consensus around one of them."

“我已經準備好了一系列的選項，看看我們能不能就其中一個達成共識。”