SHARE ON: |
| |
| |
 |
 |
|
|
The Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed Saturday to support a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15 per cent to deter multinational companies from avoiding taxes by stashing profits in low-rate countries.
G7 finance ministers meeting in London also endorsed proposals to make the worlds biggest companies - including U.S.-based tech giants - pay taxes in countries where they have lots of sales but no physical headquarters.
British Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, the host, said the deal would reform the global tax system to make it fit for the global digital age and crucially to make sure that its fair, so that the right companies pay the right tax in the right places.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the agreement provides tremendous momentum for reaching a global deal that would end the race-to-the-bottom in corporate taxation and ensure fairness for the middle class and working people in the U.S. and around the world.
Nations have been grappling for years with the question of how to deter companies from legally avoiding paying taxes by using accounting and legal schemes to assign their profits to subsidiaries in tax havens - typically small countries that entice companies with low or zero taxes, even though the firms do little actual business there. International discussions on tax issues gained momentum after U.S. President Joe Biden backed the idea of a global minimum of at least 15 per cent -- and possibly higher -- on corporate profits.
The meeting of finance ministers came ahead of an annual summit of G7 leaders scheduled for June 11-13 in Cornwall, England. The endorsement from the G7 could help build momentum for a deal in wider talks among more than 135 countries being held in Paris as well as a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting in Venice in July.
Manal Corwin, a tax principal at professional services firm KPMG and a former Treasury Department official, said the meeting had clarified where important countries stood on several key issues, including the 15 per cent minimum.
Signaling that there is consensus around some of the key features of whats being discussed globally was really, really important so they have the momentum to go to the next phase of this with the G-20, she said.
The tax proposals endorsed Saturday have two main parts. The first part lets countries tax a share of the profits earned by companies that have no physical presence but have substantial sales, for instance through selling digital advertising.
France had launched debate over the issue by imposing its own digital services tax on revenues it deemed to have been earned in France by companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook. Other countries have followed suit. The U.S. considers those national taxes to be unfair trade measures that improperly single out American firms.
Part of the agreement Saturday is that other countries would repeal their unilateral digital taxes in favor of a global agreement.
Facebooks vice-president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, said the deal is a big step toward increasing business certainty and raising public confidence in the global tax system but acknowledged it could cost the company.
We want the international tax reform process to succeed and recognize this could mean Facebook paying more tax, and in different places, Clegg said on Twitter.
The G7 statement echoes a U.S. proposal to let countries tax part of the earnings of the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises -- digital or not -- if they are doing business within their borders. It supported awarding countries the right to tax 20 per cent or more of local profits exceeding a 10 per cent profit margin.
Yellen, asked if she had given her European counterparts assurances that large U.S. tech firms would be included, said the agreement will include large profitable firms, and I believe those firms will qualify by almost any definition.
The other main part of the proposal is for countries to tax their home companies overseas profits at a rate of at least 15 per cent. That would deter the practice of using accounting schemes to shift profits to a few very low-tax countries because earnings untaxed overseas would face a top-up tax in the headquarters country.
At home, Biden is proposing a 21 per cent U.S. tax rate on companies overseas earnings, an increase from the 10.5 per cent-13.125 per cent enacted under former President Donald Trump. Even if the U.S. rate winds up higher than the global minimum, the difference would be small enough to eliminate most room for tax avoidance. Bidens proposal requires congressional approval.
KPMGs Corwin said the final statement was silent on several key points, including exactly which of the largest and most profitable multinationals would be covered by the proposal and how companies would be protected from double-billing if countries disagree on who has the right to tax them. Those complexities are fodder for the G-20 talks and the ongoing Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development talks in Paris.
The devil is in the details, Corwin said.
The Group of 7 is an informal forum among Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the United States. European Union representatives also attend. Its decisions are not legally binding, but leaders can use the forum to exert political influence.
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
8 am |
| -4 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: W 17 KM/H
GUSTING TO 24 KM/H |
|
|
|
9 am |
| -4 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: W 17 KM/H
GUSTING TO 22 KM/H |
|
|
|
10 am |
| -3 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: W 17 KM/H
GUSTING TO 21 KM/H |
|
|
 |
11 am |
| -2 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: W 17 KM/H
GUSTING TO 19 KM/H |
|
|
|
12 pm |
| -1 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: WNW 16 KM/H
GUSTING TO 19 KM/H |
|
|
|
1 pm |
| 1 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
WIND: WNW 16 KM/H
GUSTING TO 19 KM/H |
|
|
|
2 pm |
| 1 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
WIND: WNW 17 KM/H
GUSTING TO 20 KM/H |
|
|
|
3 pm |
| 2 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
WIND: NW 18 KM/H
GUSTING TO 20 KM/H |
|
|
|
|
TODAY |
HIGH OF 2 ℃
LOW OF -6 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
|
|
 |
MONDAY |
HIGH OF 3 ℃
LOW OF -5 ℃ |
| FEW CLOUDS |
|
|
|
TUESDAY |
HIGH OF 7 ℃
LOW OF -2 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
|
|
|
WEDNESDAY |
HIGH OF 8 ℃
LOW OF -1 ℃ |
| FEW CLOUDS |
|
|
|
THURSDAY |
HIGH OF 13 ℃
LOW OF 2 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
|
|
 |
FRIDAY |
HIGH OF 17 ℃
LOW OF 7 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
SATURDAY |
HIGH OF 14 ℃
LOW OF 8 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
|
|
|
SUNDAY |
HIGH OF 8 ℃
LOW OF 4 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
CORY MARKS
WHISKEY FOR SALE
08:13 AM |
|
 |
LUKE COMBS
BEER NEVER BROKE MY HEART
08:10 AM |
|
 |
RIVER TOWN SAINTS
CHERRY BOMB
08:07 AM |
|
 |
HARDY
GUN TO MY HEAD
08:03 AM |
|
 |
WILL DEMPSEY
RED DIRT ROAD
07:59 AM |
|
 |
LUKE BRYAN
COUNTRY SONG CAME ON
07:55 AM |
|
 |
TYLER FARR
WHISKEY IN MY WATER
07:52 AM |
|
 |
KIP MOORE
WILDFIRE
07:49 AM |
|
 |
DYLAN MARLOWE
DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER
07:42 AM |
|
 |
MITCHELL TENPENNY
WOKE UP IN A DREAM
07:39 AM |
|
 
 |
