rThe Interim Government has expressed support for a plan by the Group of Seven major economies to introduce a minimum corporate tax rate of 15% across the world. This initiative was launched as an effort to reduce tax evasion across the world.
The scheme forces tech giants such as Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon to pay taxes in the countries where they generate their revenue. Currently, they only have to pay taxes in the countries where they are located where tax evasion is possible.
The strategy would also eliminate the so-called “race to the bottom” in which countries compete to keep their tax rates as low as possible to attract businesses. The agreement was signed in London on Saturday by the finance ministers of the Group of Seven, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The outgoing cabinet expressed its satisfaction at the agreement: “The Netherlands supports these schemes. This way we can effectively tackle tax evasion,” Finance Minister Hans Wilbro wrote on Twitter.
The Netherlands supports these plans. This is how we tackle tax evasion effectively. The agreements are in line with several recent actions taken by NL and will continue to address tackling tax evasion. I will do my best for the speedy implementation of these agreements in the EU https://t.co/73gHHgc1Ox
— Hans Willbrief (@stasVijlbrief) June 5, 2021
Filbro also said that he is working to implement the agreement in the EU as soon as possible. All G7 countries already have a corporate tax rate of 15 percent, but some EU countries are below this level. Corporate tax rates are only 12.5% in Ireland and Cyprus and only 9% in Hungary.
The Netherlands is also known as a tax haven for large companies. Large companies such as Netflix and the four largest tobacco companies British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco and Imperial Brand used shell companies to evade taxes in the Netherlands.
Philbru told De Nieuws BV earlier this week that if companies start paying more taxes, the average citizen could end up with less.
“Thinker. Food lover. Furiously humble musical. Lifelong explorer. Twitter lover. Professional student.”
