The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Will Whitmire, will@patrioticmillionaires.org

Business Leaders Call on G7 to Back Plans to End Multinational Tax Avoidance

Business leaders across the US, UK, and other countries are urging G7 leaders to back plans for a minimum international corporate tax rate of 21%.

WASHINGTON

More than 60 current and former business leaders have signed a joint letter urging G7 leaders, and the UK Government as host, to agree to a groundbreaking deal to make multinationals pay a minimum 21% corporation tax, as recently proposed by the Biden administration. The full text of the letter is available at bizfor21percent.org.

The deal, which is being discussed at the G7 meeting in the UK in June, would be a significant move in helping to end multinational tax avoidance.

Signatories include more than 60 current and former business leaders, predominantly from the UK and the US. Among them are former senior Facebook executive Brian Boland, Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream brand, and Morris Pearl, a former Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. and Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires.

Morris Pearl said: "A global minimum corporate tax rate means we can move on from the non-stop race to the bottom on tax dodging. It means another nail in the coffin for tax havens, which are currently home to $7.6 trillion - money that could be better invested in national budgets to reduce inequality."

A minimum global tax rate would mean all businesses have a level playing field to compete on. It would help end tax avoidance and prevent multinational giants - and their major shareholders - from securing even greater levels of wealth, at the cost of small businesses and ordinary citizens.

Negotiations will reach a critical point at the G7 meeting on June 7th, with most rich countries supporting the plan while the UK has not yet committed.

The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of high-net worth Americans who share a profound concern about the destabilizing level of inequality in America. Our work centers on the two things that matter most in a capitalist democracy: power and money. Our goal is to ensure that the country's political economy is structured to meet the needs of regular Americans, rather than just millionaires. We focus on three "first" principles: a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens.

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