Treasury Department backs 15% minimum tax on profits of global companies
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday it supports a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15% – below the 21% minimum it seeks to impose on foreign profits of US-based companies. United States.
The offer comes as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Group of 20 major economies seek agreement on a minimum corporate tax rate. It’s part of an effort to end what the Treasury calls “a race to the bottom” as countries compete to cut corporate tax rates and attract multinational companies.
The OECD estimates that governments lose up to $ 240 billion a year to companies that shift their profits from country to country to reduce their tax burdens.
Competition to lower corporate tax rates has “undermined the ability of the United States and other countries to generate the income necessary to make critical investments,” the Treasury said in a statement, adding that its proposal had been positively received by other countries.
The Treasury stressed that the proposed 15% was a floor and said that “the discussions should continue to be ambitious and push this rate higher”.
Seeking to finance his $ 2.3 trillion public works plan, President Joe Biden proposed raise the US corporate rate from 21% to 28% and impose a minimum tax of 21% on corporate profits abroad.