PARIS, France — Nearly 140 countries will haggle over
key details of a global corporate tax plan this week, with some concerned about
giving up too much and others eager to ensure tech giants pay their fair share.
اضافة اعلان
The Group of Seven (
G7) wealthy democracies approved a
proposal to impose a minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15 percent earlier
this month, hoping to stop a "race to the bottom" as nations compete
to offer the lowest rates.
It is one of two pillars of reforms that would also allow
countries to tax a share of profits of the 100 most profitable companies in the
world — such as Google, Facebook and Apple — regardless of where they are
based.
The deal now goes to the Organization of Economic
Co-operation and Development (
OECD), which is overseeing two days of talks
starting Wednesday to find a consensus among 139 countries.
The proposal will then be taken up by the
G20 club of
wealthy and emerging countries at a meeting of finance ministers in Italy on
July 9 and 10.
"I don't think we have ever been so close to an
agreement," said Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD tax policy center.
"I think that everybody has realized that a deal is
better than no deal," Saint-Amans told France's BFM Business radio earlier
this month, adding that failing to agree would lead to unilateral taxes and US
reprisals.
US President Joe Biden has galvanized the issue by backing
the global minimum corporate tax, and Europeans want a deal, he said.
Negotiations have gained new urgency as governments seek new
sources of revenue after spending huge sums on stimulus measures to prevent
their economies from collapsing during the coronavirus pandemic.
Irish concerns
While the G7 — the United States, Canada, Japan, France,
Britain, Italy and Germany — approved the plan, it still faces hurdles as the
negotiations expand to other nations.
European Union members Ireland and Hungary are not thrilled
about it, as their corporate taxes are less than 15 percent.
Ireland has become the EU home to tech giants Facebook,
Google and Apple thanks to its 12.5-percent rate.
But another EU country that has benefited from a low rate,
Poland, voiced support for the proposal last week.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said China also has
concerns about the proposal.
Two sources involved in the negotiations told AFP that
China, which has a reduced rate for companies in key sectors, would not want a
rate that exceeds 15 percent.
Biden also has some convincing to do at home, as key Republicans
in Congress have already criticised the deal as a "speculative
agreement" and an "economic blunder".
Amazon escape?
The next round of talks will also have to settle on a tax
base and the number of companies whose profits could be taxed.
While Britain backed the G7 plan, it wants to ensure that
its financial sector is exempt from the reform's "Pillar One" on
taxing a share of profits of overseas-headquartered companies.
Others like France are concerned that US e-commerce behemoth
Amazon could escape the levies because its profit margin does not exceed a
10-percent threshold.
The world's 100 biggest multinationals would be targeted by
Pillar One, but countries in the G24 — an intergovernmental group that includes
countries such as Argentina, Brazil and India — say more firms should be added
to the list.
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