双语阅读英语外刊精讲：全球百万富翁聚集中心

2019-04-15 16:56:47来源：酷学英语

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　　Imagine a pint-sized country – less than a square mile in size (2 square kilometres) – with sun-drenched, quiet streets, no dog poo and no income tax to pay. A place where motor racing and yachting are the national pastimes and people hop into a helicopter to get from A to B instead of hailing a taxi. Now imagine that one in three of the people who live there are millionaires– often many times over.

　　This little oasis has, in fact, become such a magnet for millionaires that many more want to relocate to its sunny shores. So, the local authorities have taken the radical step of allowing the construction of artificial islands out across the sea to house them all. Sounds too bizarre to be true, but perched on the picturesque cliff tops of the French Riviera, such an odd place does exist.

　　It’s the tiny principality of Monaco – millionaire hub of the world, with the highest number of millionaires per capita. If you drive along the Mediterranean coast of France, glimpses of pebbly beaches dotted with sun-bleached umbrellas poke through the cypress trees. Then out of nowhere towering, concrete buildings emerge from an otherwise sleepy seafront. When you spot shimmering skyscrapers, Bugattis whizzing past and a world-famous casino, you know you’ve arrived in the city-state of Monaco. With the highest population density of any country in the world, and reputation as a playground for the world’s super rich, demand for property here has soared.

　　But it’s not just sea views these buyers are drawn to: this pocket-sized principality is also a tax haven. “It’s got no income tax and no corporation tax for businesses doing most of their work in Monaco, so tax is the main reason we found for people wanting to move here. The other thing is simply lifestyle,” he says.

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