British officials aren’t convinced by US president Joe Biden’s plan for a global minimum business tax rate of 21%, according to a person familiar with the matter. For Ireland, president Biden's pitch for a 21% global minimum tax rate has high stakes because, if implemented, it would likely undermine the 12.5% headline tax rate that has anchored the State's prosperity over almost three decades. Mr Sunak said in March that he believes a global tax deal is within reach, while EU officials have also expressed optimism about the plan. The Financial Times today quoted Treasury official Mike Williams as saying a deal that only considered a global minimum tax rate wouldn’t be acceptable to the UK. “The core UK proposition is that we’ve got to solve the digital tax issue, which we’ve been working on for years,” Mr Williams told an online conference hosted by Oxford University, according to the FT.“It’s not primarily about a minimum tax,” Mr Williams said.

Source: Irish Examiner May 16, 2021 15:52 UTC