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pietillidie wrote:Okay, picking up the international tax story again. This really is major policy news, regardless of debates about the rate itself. Is it a case of too little, or a good step towards resetting basic expectations? I haven't read the detail, but my first instinct is that any movement from the US in this regard is good for everyone, because national revenues are in trouble everywhere, and that's causing destabilisation and decay.
The NYTimes wrote:The Biden administration proposed a global tax on multinational corporations of at least 15 percent in the latest round of international tax negotiations, Treasury Department officials said on Thursday, as the U.S. looks to reach a deal with countries that fear hiking their rates will deter investment.
The rate was a lower-than-expected proposal from the United States, and the Treasury Department hailed its positive reception among other countries as a breakthrough in the negotiations. The fate of the talks is closely tied to the Biden administration’s plans for overhauling the corporate tax code in the United States, and the White House is pushing to reach an international agreement this summer and pass legislation later this year.
President Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate in the United States to 28 percent from 21 percent, which would be higher than the rate in many other countries. A deal over a global minimum tax would better allow the United States to make the increase without putting American companies at a disadvantage or encouraging them to move operations offshore.
Treasury has been holding meetings this week with a panel of negotiators from 24 countries about the so-called global minimum tax, which would apply to multinational companies regardless of where they locate their headquarters.
(Reuters) - The UK treasury is refusing to back a global overhaul of corporation tax championed by U.S. President Joe Biden unless the White House supports its demand to crack down on U.S. tech titans, The Telegraph bit.ly/3vnnZg4 reported on Monday, citing treasury sources.
Britain has not yet given the proposal its backing as it is pushing for strict rules that specifically target Silicon Valley titans such as Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc , the report added, citing the sources.
“We’re not going to rush to sign up without a proper, more detailed deal on where tech companies pay their tax, something that you’re confident can be pushed through Congress,” a Treasury source told the paper.
The UK has a horror record of kowtowing to its old tax-haven parked money, part of the motivation behind Brexit for certain old money. Where are the other voices? You can hope, but you can never trust.
^Yeah, there's potential there as the trade-off put forward is part of the same problem essentially. It's definitely the right conversation to have, but it pay to stay sceptical as they are likely just inciting the ire of big tech to scupper the Biden effort out of hand. I'll never forget Tim Cook's self-entitled dummy spit when the EU dared to mention this problem a few years back, threatening Apple's use of Ireland to avoid paying its dues.
Speaking of which:
Ireland has no plans to increase its corporate tax rate - one of the lowest in the developed world - the country's finance minister has told Sky News, which could scupper Joe Biden's radical scheme for a global minimum rate.
Paschal Donohoe said that he had "significant reservations" over plans floated by the US president to encourage countries around the world to adopt minimum rates of corporate tax in order to prevent companies from shifting their profits and avoiding payments in future.
He predicted that Ireland will maintain its 12.5% corporate tax rate for many years to come.
The problem is that Ireland has structured itself around being a low-tax regime. Staying pragmatic, this means separate deals have to be struck to phase a new regime in for similar countries to make it work, the Netherlands being another that comes to mind. But then, that sort of hard graft is exactly what negotiators get paid to do.
The notion that "it's our tax rate so bugger off" is one of the most delusional fundamentalist ideas getting around.
I'm glad there's at least an appetite from the US to do something about this right now. May be hard to get a lot of countries to fall in line, but it's certainly worth a try to see how far they can push things along.
"Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence." – Julian Assange
I see both sides, fuel tax goes a long way to keeping the roads in good order, user pays, so they have to get the funds from electric vehicles another way.
You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either!
Yeah, but if they had half a brain they'd have waited until sale of electric vehicles reached a critical mass before imposing the tax. At least then they'd have an excuse.
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.
More on the global tax story, which might need its own thread at this rate??
Here's that trade you noted, David, where the US seeks greater rate equalisation from haven-ish jurisdictions and the world requests measures to deal with tech giant digital avoidance in return. When you see the tip of the iceberg get this far, you know the diplomatic momentum beneath must be fairly substantial.
Some random source on my screen that may or may not be reputable wrote:A deal on taxing tech giants at this week’s G7 finance meeting would only be the start of a lengthy process, an expert has said.
The US is pushing for a global minimum tax rate which would stop companies from gaming the system and boost government revenues after the pandemic.
Clement Beaune, France's junior minister for European affairs, said there was also opposition from Cyprus and Malta. AFPIreland most resistant to Biden’s corporation tax push
G7 finance ministers are expected to discuss the proposal in talks on Friday and Saturday in the run-up to next week’s leaders’ summit in Britain.
Patrick Holden, an expert in international political economy at the University of Plymouth, said a deal would be the first major piece of tax co-operation in the modern era.
But Dr Holden told The National there would still be significant hurdles between a G7 deal and implementing the proposal.
“I think they’ll come up with some minimum agreement and then they’ll have to get the countries at the G20 which is happening later this summer in Italy to agree, and that includes China, Russia and Brazil and lots of other big countries like that,” he said.
“An entity like the G7, it’s like a club, it’s not like the EU or even the United Nations or the World Trade Organisation where they make laws.
“They would all have to put it into legislation in Japan and Canada and the US and UK and so on, so that’s going to be a long process with lots of nuances involved.”
He said: “It will be an important agreement, and it will send a signal in various senses, but there’ll be a lot for lawyers and accountants to work out.”
Germany and the US, which back the minimum tax proposal, both voiced optimism over the prospects for a G7 agreement.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said G7 nations were “very close to concluding an international agreement”.
A bit of Roo poop is hardly a reason to bring out the rifles. If the population had reached the point it was actually trashing the joint then maybe, but not as a first option.
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.
