Sunak ‘confident’ of tech tax progress ahead of G7 finance meeting
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he is “confident” of making “concrete progress” towards a global deal for taxing digital giants when the G7 finance ministers meet over the weekend.
Taxing firms such as Amazon and Facebook has become an area of disagreement between the US and a number of other countries.
Earlier this week the US announced that it would impose tariffs on $2bn worth of goods from six countries including the UK in response to attempts to make tech giants pay more tax.
President Joe Biden’s administration automatically suspended the tariffs for six months while negotiations continue over a global tax deal.
Over the two day meeting, which begins today in London, finance ministers from the seven countries will also discuss climate change.
Yesterday Sunak met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for the first time, where he called for a crackdown on big tech tax avoidance.
In a statement, Sunak said: “The G7 is a hugely important grouping and it’s an honour to be welcoming my counterparts to London with a renewed spirit of multilateral cooperation.”
“Even before holding the G7 presidency we’ve been clear on our priorities – protecting jobs, ensuring a green and global recovery and supporting the world’s most vulnerable countries.
“Securing a global agreement on digital taxation has also been a key priority this year – we want companies to pay the right amount of tax in the right place, and I hope we can reach a fair deal with our partners.
“I’m determined we work together and unite to tackle the world’s most pressing economic challenges – and I’m hugely optimistic that we will deliver some concrete outcomes this weekend.”