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Implementing global minimum tax deal is Germany’s priority, says Finance Minister
By Maria Martinez and Christian Kraemer
BERLIN (Reuters) – Implementing the second pillar of the global minimum tax deal is Germany’s priority and new ideas should not be discussed until there is an agreement on the first pillar, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Friday. fair.
“In the second pillar we already have this in German national legislation,” Lindner said at a press conference on the sidelines of a meeting with his G7 counterparts in Italy. “Current work focuses on the first pillar.”
The tax is mainly aimed at US-based digital giants, with a so-called “first pillar” that aims to reallocate taxing rights on around $200 billion of corporate profits to the countries where the companies do business.
The United States threatened retaliatory tariffs against European countries if they implemented the first pillar, which is stuck in negotiations.
Meanwhile, countries are implementing the second pillar of the global minimum tax agreement.
This part of the agreement attempts to ensure that companies with revenues exceeding 750 million euros ($800 million) pay a global minimum rate of 15%, allowing governments to apply a supplementary tax on revenues earned in countries with lower rates. .
As talks on the first pillar continue, the German government is “extremely skeptical” about the new components of a global fiscal agenda, the minister said.
“We have to focus on implementing what we have already worked on,” Lindner said in Stresa, Italy. “Overloading the global fiscal policy agenda would only result in us achieving less than is possible.”
($1 = 0.9227 euros)
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer and Maria Martinez; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)