The Rich Are Different from You and Me

　　other than that they have more money, of course, as the critic Mary Colum retorted. They’ve got much better ways of hiding their income from the prying eyes of Uncle Sam:

　　One afternoon in April, six dozen wealthy Americans were entertained at a luncheon party in Midtown Manhattan, along with a special guest from Paris: Henri Loyrette, the director of the Louvre.

　　The host of the exclusive gathering was the Swiss bank UBS, whose elite private bankers built a lucrative business in recent years by discreetly tending the fortunes of American millionaires and billionaires. As the wine flowed and Mr. Loyrette spoke of the glories of France, UBS bankers courted their affluent guests.

　　But now, as the federal authorities intensify an investigation into offshore bank accounts, the secrets of this rarefied world are being dragged into the open — and UBS’s privileged clients are running scared.

　　Under pressure from the authorities, UBS is considering whether to divulge the names of up to 20,000 of its well-heeled American clients, according to people close to the inquiry, a step that would have once been unthinkable to Swiss bankers, whose traditions of secrecy date to the Middle Ages.

　　Federal investigators believe some of the clients may have used offshore accounts at UBS to hide as much as $20 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service. Doing so may have enabled these people to dodge at least $300 million in federal taxes on income from those assets, according to a government official connected with the investigation.

$300 million is a lot in practically everybody’s book.

Another difference is that if you stole $300 million and were caught doing it, in all likelihood you’d go to prison. These cats will pay a fine and that will probably be that. After all it would be pretty darned embarrassing if 20,000 of America’s richest ended up doing time.

富人与你我的不同

　　译：正如评论家玛丽`科伦姆所反驳的：当然，除去富人比我们有更多的钱，他们拥有更多的方法将自己的财富藏好，不让像山姆叔叔那样爱打听的人知道。

　　四月的一个下午， 七十几个美国有钱人受邀来到曼哈顿商业区参加午宴，其中，有一位从巴黎来的贵宾，亨瑞·罗瑞特，影片罗浮宫的导演。

　　这个高级聚会的主办方是瑞士银行-UBS:瑞士联合银行，该银行的私人精英银行业者在近几年通过细心帮助美国的百万、千万富翁打理财产而大赚了一笔。罗瑞特一边摇动着酒杯，一边娓娓到来法国的光荣史，瑞银的银行家们奉承着他们多金的客人们。

　　但是， 现在由于联邦当局已经加大了对于境外银行账户的调查，这个鲜为人知的世界正慢慢被人所了解，以致瑞银的特权客户人数在减少。

　　在当局的这种压力下， 瑞银正在考虑是否要向此次调查的相关人士泄露多达20,000的美国贵宾名单，这个做法对瑞士银行家们而言，是从未考虑过要做的。因为，他们这种对账户采取保密的传统源自中世纪。

　　联邦调查员们认为，有些人利用在瑞银的国外账户来掩藏国内税收局高达2千亿美元的财产。据这次调查的相关政府官员说，这样做，可以使他们能够避免上缴因该笔财产所产生的至少3亿美元税款。

　　在实际生活中，3亿美元对每个人的账户而言都不是一笔小数目。

　　还有一个区别就是，如果你偷了3亿美元而且被当场抓住，很有可能你要去监狱了。而这些有钱的恶人只会收到一张罚单，而且可能仅次而已了。要知道，如果美国富人中的2万人在这样做的话，这会是非常令人尴尬又厌恶的。