French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he was in favour of the OECD’s proposals on international tax reform on Tuesday 26 November, during a speech at the OECD Global Forum on Tax Transparency.
“The latest OECD proposal, the one available since this morning, is the best possible basis for reaching agreement on the taxation of digital activities”, he said of the proposal on pillar I of the reform (see EUROPE 12345/11).
“France wants all other members of the OECD’s inclusive framework, in particular the United States and China, to say ‘yes’ to this proposal”, he added. In his view, this OECD proposal addresses all the American concerns raised in the past and there would no longer be “any reason” for the United States not to agree.
On pillar II, he said that countries still had to agree on the method of taxation and the tax rate.
France believes that overall taxation is ineffective and that preference should be given to taxation by country, he explained. Bruno Le Maire also proposed an overall minimum reference rate of 12.5% for corporate income tax.
According to him, the OECD is only be “a few metres away from an agreement”. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)