Finance ministers from the advanced economies committed Saturday to a global minimum corporate rate of 15 per cent, and to giving countries in which “the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises” do business the collective right to at least 20 per cent of profits above a 10 per cent margin, whether or not they have physical operations there. (The Logic)
Talking point: Despite the consensus reached in London, the Liberal government still plans to enforce its proposed three per cent digital-services tax (DST) from next year until a final global system is in place. Other countries will need to be convinced that the G7-endorsed approach is the one to adopt—the OECD aims to bring a political agreement from negotiations among over 130 governments to the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in July. Giant technology companies, which generally favour a multilateral deal over individual DSTs, welcomed the weekend announcement. Meanwhile, the G7 finance ministries and central banks also committed to collaborating on sovereign digital currencies, which they said “could act as a liquid, safe settlement asset and as an anchor for the payments system.”