US Treasury proposes 15 percent global minimum corporate tax rate

The Biden administration hopes the move will end competition to lure companies to countries with low tax rates, which ends up eroding government coffers.

The U.S. has proposed that countries agree to a 15% global minimum corporate tax in international negotiations aimed at ending competition to lure companies through cheap rates, which then end up eroding government revenues. “It is imperative to work multilaterally to end the pressures of corporate tax competition and corporate tax base erosion,” the Treasury Department said in a statement Thursday. “Treasury underscored that 15% is a floor and that discussions should continue to be ambitious and push that rate higher.” The offer, which came in talks held this week, moves the U.S. position closer to the 12.5% rate that had been discussed at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development prior to the U.S. re-engaging in the negotiations following Joe Biden’s election as president. The American move could help provide additional momentum to reach a deal in the summer, as the OECD has been aiming for.