July 10 (UPI) — Finance officials from the Group of 20 major economies announced after a two-day meeting in Italy that they have approved plans for a global minimum tax rate on multinational corporations.
The G20 finance officials, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, issued a joint statement after the meeting in Venice that said the group had agreed to plans for an international tax on multinational corporations and a global minimum tax rate of 15% on such companies.
The global tax reform plan, which the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has been promoting for nearly a decade, was agreed to by about 130 nations last week. The plan is aimed at stopping multinational corporations from shifting their profits into so-called “tax havens” — countries with lower corporate tax rates.
“After many years of discussions and building on the progress made last year, we have achieved a historic agreement on a more stable and fairer international tax architecture,” the G20 finance ministers said in the joint statement.
The tax plan is expected to receive final approval at a meeting of the G20 leaders in October. Some details, such as the fate of the European Commission’s planned digital tax, must still be finalized before the meeting in Rome.
The joint statement also called for increasing the speed of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, especially in developing countries. The ministers said the slow rate of vaccination in some areas could lead to contagious variants of the virus to emerge and spread across the globe.