Ireland’s finance minister on Tuesday said it remains to be seen if states participating in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) corporate tax talks can agree a global minimum rate.
A call on Monday for such a rate by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was quickly backed by Germany and France.
Paschal Donohoe said the catalysts for corporate tax change had been “supercharged” by the COVID-19 pandemic, but that smaller countries like Ireland would voice their concerns at the OECD.
“The focus on a global minimum tax rate is a prospect that I do have reservations about … on what would be the impact of that on the competitiveness for smaller and medium-sized economies that do have lower rates of corporate taxation and use that as part of their overall competitive model,” Donohoe told a news conference.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
