G-20 endorses global corporate minimum tax at Rome summit

Medical personnel and world leaders pose for a group photo at the La Nuvola conference center for the G20 summit in Rome, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. The two-day Group of 20 summit is the first in-person gathering of leaders of the world's biggest economies since the COVID-19 pandemic started. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Medical personnel and world leaders pose for a group photo at the La Nuvola conference center for the G20 summit in Rome, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. The two-day Group of 20 summit is the first in-person gathering of leaders of the world's biggest economies since the COVID-19 pandemic started. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

By DAVID McHUGH, FRANCES D'EMILIO and SYLVIE CORBET / Associated Press October 31, 2021 5 min read

ROME (AP) – Leaders of the world’s biggest economies on Saturday endorsed a global minimum tax on corporations, a linchpin of new international tax rules aimed at blunting the edge of fiscal paradises amid skyrocketing profits of some multinational businesses.

The move by the Group of 20 summit in Rome was hailed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen as benefiting American businesses and workers.

G-20 finance ministers in July had already agreed on a 15% minimum tax. It awaited formal endorsement at the summit Saturday in Rome of the world’s economic powerhouses.

Yellen predicted in a statement that the deal on new international tax rules, with a minimum global tax, “will end the damaging race to the bottom on corporate taxation.”

The deal did fall short of U.S. President Joe Biden’s original call for a 21% minimum tax. Still, Biden tweeted his satisfaction.