More than 130 countries reach historic tax justice deal with global corporate minimum tax rate

The Socialists and Democrats welcome today’s agreement on a global effective minimum tax rate of 15%, reached within the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS*.

For many years, the Socialists and Democrats have spearheaded the fight in the European Parliament for a minimum effective tax rate and tax justice. Under the leadership of the S&D Group, the European Parliament for the first time backed our long-standing demand for a minimum effective corporate tax rate in a report adopted in March this year. The S&Ds will now continue their campaign to push for a higher tax rate and a digital levy as the next milestone for delivering on citizens’ calls for tax justice.

Aurore Lalucq, S&D MEP and spokesperson on tax matters, said:

“The deal on a global corporate minimum tax rate is historic. It can be a game-changer to start fixing our unfair tax system. 

“Today, countries can aggressively compete with each other for the lowest tax rate to induce multinationals to shop around, while SMEs are unfairly taxed at a higher rate. This ‘beggar thy neighbour’ attitude costs the EU €160-190 billion – every year. Money we need to finance a speedy recovery and to finance the social and green transition.

“The global minimum effective tax rate will empower countries to implement fair taxation without the fear of being undercut by others.

“Today's deal is a good start. Now we need to keep on fighting for a more ambitious tax rate: 21%.”

 Jonás Fernández, S&D MEP and spokesperson for economic and monetary affairs, said:

“We call on EU finance ministers to back the OECD deal at their meeting next week and agree on new EU-wide rules. As a next step, we also expect the participants of the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting to fully endorse this historic deal. A 15% minimum tax rate is expected to yield €48 billion in additional tax revenues. But we do not only want our money back, a minimum effective tax rate is also about regaining control in a globalised economy, where big multinationals, lured by tax havens, get away with bending the rules at the expense of the many. It is about protecting trust in our democracies and fairness for the hard-working people and the neighbourhood shops who pay their taxes.”

“Our fight for tax justice does not stop here. We will keep pushing for a more ambitious corporate tax rate and a digital levy to ensure tech giants such as Amazon and Apple pay their fair share.”

Note to the editor:

*BEPS stands for base erosion and profit shifting, which refers to tax-planning strategies used by multinationals that exploit gaps and mismatches in national tax rules to avoid paying taxes. Working together within OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS, 139 countries and jurisdictions are cooperating to improve tax rules.

Visit our Tax Justice website to find out more about our tireless campaign to fix the broken tax system.

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