A year ago the prospect of a global minimum tax on corporate profits was considered a fantasy. Donald Trump was in the White House and the word cooperation was not in his vocabulary. In just under a fortnight, the G7 will meet in Cornwall and the words co-ordination and cooperation are set to be heard frequently.
The UK says it is pushing hard for a tax deal that would prevent the big tech companies from playing countries off against each other and squirrelling their profits away in low-tax havens.
Joe Biden’s administration is urgently seeking a robust agreement that will see most of the 139 countries lined up by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) signing a global pact.
In the first instance, Rishi Sunak’s team in the Treasury needs to drop its narrow and self-interested focus on the trade-offs that could leave the UK out of pocket.
There is a deep-seated fear in Whitehall that a fair global tax system would leave the UK at a…
