The United States welcomed, Saturday, June 5, the agreement obtained by the finance ministers of the G7 paving the way for a global tax reform project, and a minimum tax rate on multinationals. In a statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen praised a “Unprecedented commitment” of G7. “This global minimum tax will end the race to the bottom of corporate taxation, and bring justice for the middle class and working people in the United States and around the world.”, she added.
G7 finance ministers have committed to the goal of a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15%, they said in a statement on Saturday, after 48 hours negotiations.
For his part, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, applauded “A historic step” in the « combat » against “Tax avoidance and optimization”. About the rate“At least 15%” on which the G7 finance ministers meeting in London have agreed, “This is a starting point and in the coming months we will fight for this minimum tax rate to be as high as possible”, he assured on Twitter.
“Bad news for tax havens”
The deal was also hailed by Rishi Sunak, British Chancellor of the Exchequer: “This is a historic agreement and I am proud that the G7 is showing collective leadership at this crucial time for the recovery of the global economy. “ It’s about a “Very good news for tax justice and solidarity, and bad news for tax havens around the world”German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in a statement. For her part, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, welcomed on Twitter a “Big step towards fair taxation and competition”, calling for more ” international cooperation “.
The great powers of the G7 (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Japan, Germany, United States), encouraged by the American turnaround on the tax issue following the coming to power of Joe Biden, want to achieve reform ambitious approach to international taxation in the spirit of the work undertaken within the OECD. It targets large tech companies, often American, which pay derisory taxes despite profits of tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars, by domiciling in countries where the corporate tax rate is very low, if not zero. .
The American social media giant Facebook has said it wants “International tax reform is successful”, said Nick Clegg, the group’s public affairs director. He “Recognizes that this could mean that Facebook is paying more taxes and in different places”, according to a statement he made on his Twitter account.
“Setting a global minimum corporate tax rate of just 15% is far too low”, however estimated Gabriela Bucher, from the NGO Oxfam, and “It will do little to end a dangerous race to the bottom on corporate taxes and the widespread use of tax havens”. For its part, the Attac association believes that “The benefit to be expected from this measure is marginal in the short term” and that a rate of 25% “Would have been a major step forward”.
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