So is this what the new era of global co-operation looks like? The EU has agreed to delay the introduction of its proposed digital levy until the autumn to allow negotiations for a global minimum corporation tax. Biden had demanded that the digital tax be dropped, seeing it as a direct attack on US tech giants. In other words, the EU appears keen to compromise in the face of US pressure — something that it would have been less likely to do under Donald Trump.
The move makes it more likely that a global minimum corporation tax of 15 per cent will now become reality. Is that a cause to cheer? Not if you are Ireland, which has grown wealthy in recent decades by setting a corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent and which bitterly opposes the 15 per cent proposal — even though at that level the country would continue to have a rate that is markedly lower than other major developed economies.
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