Global tax deal seeks to end havens, criticized for ‘no teeth’

A group of 136 countries on Friday set a minimum global tax rate of 15% for big companies and sought to make it harder for them to avoid taxation in a landmark deal that U.S. President Joe Biden said levelled the playing field.

The deal aims to end a four-decade-long “race to the bottom” by setting a floor for countries that have sought to attract investment and jobs by taxing multinational companies lightly, effectively allowing them to shop around for low tax rates.

The 15% floor agreed to is, however, well below a corporate tax rate which averages around 23.5% in industrialised countries.