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TRINIDAD and Tobago is among 130 countries who have agreed to a minimum global corporate tax rate. In a statement on Thursday, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said all of thes countries agreed to a global corporate tax rate of at least 15 per cent.
"It would re-allocate some taxing rights over multinationals from their home countries to the markets where they have business activities and earn profits, regardless of whether firms have a physical presence there."
OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said, "After years of intense work and negotiations, this historic package will ensure that large multinational companies pay their fair share of tax everywhere.”
He said, "This package does not eliminate tax competition, as it should not, but it does set multilaterally agreed limitations on it.”
The OECD said each of the countries' signing the agreement would have to create its own respective legislation to enact its endorsement of the agreement into its respective laws.
In a Washington Post article on Thursday, United States President Joe Biden hailed the agreement.
"Multinational corporations will no longer be able to pit countries against one another in a bid to push tax rates down and protect their profits at the expense of public revenue."
The same article identified companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon among the multinationals which could be affected by this agreement.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it was a "historic day for economic diplomacy."
In a tweet, Yellen said, "Lower tax rates have not only failed to attract new business, they've also deprived countries of funding for important investments like infrastructure, education, and efforts to combat the (covid19) pandemic" .
In another tweet, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said "More than 130 countries, including China, India and Russia have agreed to international taxation at the OECD. It is a historic, ambitious and innovative agreement, unheard of for a century."
TT is one of eight Caricom countries that have signed this agreement. The others are Jamaica, Grenada, the Bahamas, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat. Other notable signatories are the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Korea Republic and South Africa.
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