Joe Biden struggles to persuade US Congress to raise taxes for corporations
- Biden officials believe the use of overseas tax havens has discouraged companies from investing domestically, at a cost to the middle class
- But Republicans say the tax code changes would make the US less competitive in a global economy.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday said leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) – which also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – agreed with Biden on placing a global minimum tax of at least 15 per cent on large companies.
The G7 leaders, participating in a three-day summit in England, affirmed their finance ministers who earlier this month endorsed the global tax minimum.
“America is rallying the world to make big multinational corporations pay their fair share so we can invest in our middle class at home,” Jake Sullivan, the US president’s national security adviser, said on Friday on Twitter.
A minimum tax is supposed to halt an international race to the bottom for corporate taxation that has led multinational businesses to book their profits in countries with low tax rates. This enables them to avoid taxes and encourages countries to slash rates.