G7 Reach 'Historic' Agreement on Global Corporate Tax - UK Finance Minister

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th June, 2021) The Group of Seven (G7) agreed on Saturday to reform the global tax system to make multinationals and tech giants such as Amazon and Google pay higher fiscal contribution in countries where they do business, UK Finance Minister, Rishi Sunak announced at the end of a two-day meeting in London.

"I'm delighted to announce that G-7 finance ministers today, after years of discussions, have reached a historic agreement to reform the global tax system to make it fit for the global digital age and crucially to make sure that it's fair, so that the right companies pay the right tax in the right places,'' Sunak said in a video message posted on Twitter.

In a statement, the bloc made of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States said the seven richest economies had committed to a global minimum tax of a least 15 percent on a country by country basis that would help government recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

French Minister for the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, described the agreement as historic.

"After four years of struggle, a historic agreement about minimum taxation of companies and digital giants has been reached with the G7 members," Le Maire wrote on Twitter.

US Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, pointed to the G7 taxation pact having no historic precedents.

"The G7 Finance Ministers have made a significant, unprecedented commitment today that provides tremendous momentum towards achieving a robust global minimum tax at a rate of at least 15%," Yellen tweeted.

The G7 finance ministers said they expected the broader G20 group to support their proposed global tax reform at a summit to be held in Italy next month.