Countries would implement minimum corporate tax to avoid revenue loss, says Yellen

TORONTO (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that once some countries start implementing a global minimum tax on multi-national companies, other countries with a lower corporate tax rate would need to follow along or risk losing tax revenues

“When some countries opt into this (minimum corporate tax) and put these taxes in effect, it’ll begin to be more and more that see that it’s in their interest to join up,” Yellen said at a discussion with Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in Toronto.

Some 136 countries agreed a global deal in October 2021 to ensure big companies pay a minimum tax rate of 15% and make it harder for them to avoid taxation, but such a tax has not yet been implemented anywhere.

(Reporting by David Lawder in Toronto and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)