France and Germany have come out in favor of the proposed global tax on corporate profits, presented by the US Treasury on Monday.

The sums thus released, that is to say 100 billion dollars per year with a rate of 21%, would make it possible to finance the global recovery after the Covid-19 crisis.

DECRYPTION

The idea of ​​a global corporate profit tax may soon be a sea serpent. The proposal was presented to its partners on Monday by the US Treasury, and was accepted on Tuesday by France and the United States. 'Germany.

The introduction of a minimum tax rate applicable everywhere in the world would mark a real tax revolution on the scale of the planet.

This project, led by Joe Biden, is enthusiastically supported by Emmanuel Macron - a little less by Angela Merkel -, which gives it a certain viability.

A tight schedule

The finance ministers of the G20 countries, and therefore the main world economies, have agreed on a draft timetable, with the horizon of "mid-2021" to finalize the contours of this new tax. Time to conduct negotiations within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). If this deadline is respected, this would allow this tax to be implemented in the first half of 2022.

The project sponsors want to go very quickly, precisely to avoid blockages as much as possible.

Because reluctance is likely to be numerous, starting with those of the large multinational groups which are also, in general, the champions in all categories of what is called "tax optimization", and which is very often pure fraud. and simple.

It is estimated at 245 billion euros per year for companies alone, a figure to which must be added the 182 billion of tax evasion by individuals.

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Financing the global recovery

All the more considerable sums as all the States, commensurate with their means, are mobilizing considerable sums, taken from public funds, in recovery plans to try to save companies affected by the Covid-19 health crisis . This new tax will therefore be used to finance the restart of the world economy.

The principle of this tax is to establish a minimum tax rate on all profits made by a company in a given country, regardless of where it has administratively declared its head office. Today, many companies use this writing game, which consists of earning money in Europe but setting up offices in the Caribbean for example, so as not to pay taxes. It is therefore a measure which is clearly intended to make tax havens lose all attractiveness, which will no longer be able to offer the unfair advantage of symbolic withdrawals on earnings deposited in their banks, but which have not been made at home.

If the rate of this tax were around 21%, which is the figure currently under discussion, the expansion of the global tax base would be around 100 billion dollars per year.