World on edge of new tax rules, US Treasury chief says

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday the world is on the edge of a deal of new global tax rules that will start a new era of multilateralism.

"The international tax agreement will stop the four-decade long race to the bottom on corporate taxation—where tax authorities offer lower tax rates to attract business, leading others to respond with lower rates," she said at the B20 summit, the official G20 dialogue forum with the business community, held in Rome, Italy.

"Right now, the global minimum tax rate is zero, and no countries, other than the United States, have a minimum tax on foreign earnings," she added.

Yellen noted that G7 members agreed in July to rewrite international tax rules to impose a global minimum tax on corporate foreign earnings, which was later supported by 134 countries representing more than 90% of the world’s GDP.

"This agreement will be finalized in the coming weeks, and foreign-headquartered multinational corporations will face a minimum tax in all places they do business, just like US-headquartered multinational corporations do now," she said.