The global minimum tax proposed by the Biden administration Treasury is beginning to take shape as world leaders back the idea. Paul Hannon and Kate Davidson report for The Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. has won international backing for a global minimum rate of tax as part of a wider overhaul of the rules for taxing international companies, a major step toward securing a final agreement on a key element of the Biden administration’s domestic plans for revenue raising and spending.
Officials from 130 countries that met virtually agreed Thursday to the broad outlines of what would be the most sweeping change in international taxation in a century. Among them were all of the Group of 20 major economies, including China and India, which previously had reservations about the proposed overhaul.
Those governments now will seek to pass laws ensuring that companies headquartered in their countries pay a minimum tax rate of at least 15% in each of the nations in which they operate, reducing opportunities for tax avoidance.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is guiding the negotiations, estimates that governments lose revenue of between $100 billion and $240 billion to tax avoidance each year.
“After years of intense work and negotiations, this historic package will ensure that large multinational companies pay their fair share of tax everywhere,” said OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called it “a historic day for economic diplomacy.”
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