US President Joe Biden ’s proposal to set a minimum global corporation tax at 21 per cent is gaining momentum, with the official running international talks on the matter saying that an agreement could settle near that rate. The Biden administration’s plan has turbocharged negotiations at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on how to overhaul rules on how much tax companies pay, and where. The US suggestion, while subject to negotiations in the US Congress, would be significantly higher than the 12.5 per cent previously discussed in the talks. “Will Biden get to 21 per cent, or will it be a bit lower? We’ll see,” Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the centre for tax policy at the OECD, said in the French senate on Wednesday. “As for the rest of the world, I doubt we’ll be at 21 per cent, but would we be at a rate nearing 21 per cent? I have good hope that is possible.” China urged to address global digital tax rules to avoid ‘new tariff war’ The 139 nations negotiating at the OECD have set the summer as a target for getting a deal that could deliver a significant boost to tax revenues at a time when governments finances are stretched by the coronavirus pandemic. Before the Biden proposal, the Paris-based organisation said a global minimum rate could boost the global tax take by US$100 billion. That figure would be significantly greater if the US plan takes effect. There are still technical issues to iron out though, Saint-Amans said, including concerns from China that a minimum levy could prevent tax incentives designed to shift the Chinese economy away from manufacturing to research and knowledge. He also said that while there could be an agreement on the architecture of the deal in the summer, a decision on a global rate would not come until October, once the US has decided on its minimum levy. Regarding a second pillar of the talks - making multinationals pay more of their tax to the governments of countries where they actually operate - Saint-Amans said the US proposal to target just the 100 most-profitable global firms is a huge simplification that could help get a deal. European governments have also welcomed that proposal, although they are still working on technical details to ensure the profits of digital giants, such as Amazon, are covered. “There’s a very high chance of success - there are lots of challenges with 139 countries involved on an equal footing making it complicated to manage, but there’s a real will to make progress,” Saint-Amans said. “There’s an opportunity to end these curious years during which businesses profited from globalisation without bearing any of the costs.”