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G7 finance ministers meet in London
Photo: Stefan Rousseau / AP
A minimum tax for large corporations of at least 15 percent and a new digital tax: At their meeting of finance ministers, the seven leading industrialized countries (G7) agreed on a framework for global tax reform.
Both are primarily aimed at forcing multinational corporations and tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Apple to pay higher taxes.
Read a selection of the comments in the international press on the G7 agreement:
GREAT BRITAIN
Financial Times:
The agreement also represents a revival of multilateral cooperation and constructive US leadership after the Trump years - although it accommodates the efforts of the Biden administration to finance its spending plans by increasing domestic corporate taxes.
Otherwise, US companies could have made further relocations to tax havens.
If the agreement is implemented, the threat of US tariffs against European countries planning unilateral taxes on US tech giants will no longer apply. "
"The Sunday Times":
"Not everyone will applaud the agreement, which also has to overcome considerable hurdles before it can be implemented - the next is the G20 summit in Venice in July. Ireland, with its low corporate tax rate, is one of the few countries outside the tax havens with a tax rate below the now proposed global minimum. It will lose some of its benefits as a result of this agreement and could lose revenue.
The big tech firms, who always complain that their corporate social responsibility is underestimated, won't like the deal either. However, you can't say they weren't warned. This has been in the making over the years.
The challenge now is to get the deal through and make sure it doesn't go into obscurity either in the G20 or in the corridors of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
There are not often historical agreements.
This deserves to be successful. "
ITALY
»La Repubblica«:
»The fundamental agreement of the G7 finance ministers on the global minimum tax is an 'Atlantic' success that rewards Joe Biden's method. A few days after his arrival in Europe, the US President is already showing the concrete advantages of an alliance-based foreign policy that is respectful of friendly countries. Adjusting taxes for multinational corporations and closing areas of legal evasion is essential for the economic strategies of Biden and many European allies. The ›competition for cheaper prices‹ between states to lure large investors into their own houses has given the major players in capitalism exorbitant privileges and exacerbated social inequalities. The tax authorities have dogged themselves in the middle class,to get back the taxable income lost elsewhere. "
NETHERLANDS
»De Volkskrant«:
»Historically.
Unprecedented.
A hammer.
Superlatives went around the world after the seven richest industrialized countries (G7) agreed on Saturday on a minimum profit tax of 15 percent for multinational corporations.
The big words are understandable.
If only because almost nothing had been done against tax evasion by (tech) giants in the past ten years.
(...)
However, the agreement also contains elements that make the jubilation sound a little too shrill.
First of all, the minimum percentage of 15 percent is a little too sparse.
US President Joe Biden had proposed 21 percent, but in many countries - including Europe - that seemed like swearing in the Church of fiscal liberalism.
(...)
Even if all states and associations accept the agreement by autumn, it will still be a few years before the 15 percent profit tax is actually levied.
The first reactions from Amazon, Google and Facebook also showed satisfaction.
A higher rate has been averted, and even the lower rate is still a long way off. "
BELGIUM
»De Standaard«:
»This is just a start.
It will be years before the new system generates billions.
There are still countless hurdles to overcome, not least in the United States.
But the unification of the seven richest industrial nations is historic.
It could be the most important milestone in 100 years of trading history.
(...)
But obviously there is also criticism.
The minimum tax rate of 15 percent is very low.
Richer countries benefit disproportionately more than poorer countries.
Nevertheless, there are hopeful developments.
No more 'America firsty', the West is back in business, multilateralism is on the rise.
Politicians seem to be back in control, at the expense of the lobbying multinational corporations. "
CZECH REPUBLIC
»Pravo«:
»The club of the seven most important industrial nations is no longer a world government like it used to be, but only a club of the mighty of the political west.
The center of global power has shifted to Asia.
Nevertheless, the efforts for a renewal of the West make sense.
A showcase project can be the planned global minimum tax of 15 percent for large corporations.
Its purpose is to prevent multinational companies from shifting their profits to low-tax countries.
We'll see if the initial positive reactions from technology giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon will last. "
fdi / dpa