The G7 nations say tech companies will start paying taxes soon.
Gatekeepers News reports that the G7 club of rich nations is closed to signing a global agreement that will stop the world’s biggest companies from dodging tax.
According to the French and German Finance Ministers, a global agreement to end the “race to the bottom” on corporate taxation is within sight.
French Finance Minister, Bruno le Maire said the G7 nations were “just one millimetre away from a historic agreement” on a global minimum rate.
Bruno le Maire stated that any deal must include both a tech tax on digital activities as well as a minimum rate.
Le Maire while urging Ireland, which has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the European Union, at 12.5%, to get “on board”, advised the low tax states to back a deal that would target tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft.
He added: “European countries, that in the past, opposed this new international tax system, must understand that they have to give the agreement to this major breakthrough”.
However, both ministers said agreement on a minimum rate remained a sticking point.
Le Maire said he saw a 15% rate as a “starting point”, adding that “if it can be higher, it is better to have a higher rate than 15%.”
The German Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz on the other hand suggested that 15% would be an effective starting point that would mark a “turning point” after years of going in the other direction.
Gatekeepers News gathered that Scholz said a 15% rate would help pay back COVID-19 debt.
Scholz said, “absolutely necessary” to reach a deal to “get out of this race to the bottom we see with taxes today…especially after the Covid crisis and all the money we spent to defend the health of the people and to defend the economy.”
He added, “this is very good news for tax justice and solidarity, and bad news for tax havens around the world.”
Gatekeepers News also gathered that this comes ahead of the G7 talks that will start in London on Friday.
