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Taxes on super rich and tech giants stall under Trump

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/174512177133920250420 (6).jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">People hold up signs as they protest against US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk&#x27;s &quot;Department of Government Efficiency&quot; (DOGE) outside of the US Department of Labor near the US Capitol in Washington, DC, February 5, 2025. <em>Drew Angerer, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>PARIS — Global tax plans targeting billionaires and multinational companies are running aground, with the United States torpedoing reforms under US President Donald Trump.</p><p>The billionaire real estate tycoon has pulled the United States out of an international deal on taxing multinationals and threatened tariffs on countries that target US tech giants.</p><p>Here is a look at the state of play:</p><div><strong>Big tech taxes</strong></div><p>Countries have accused Amazon, Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet and Facebook&#x27;s parent company Meta of sidestepping local taxes.</p><p>Trump issued a warning on February 21 to countries that would hit big tech and other US companies with fines or taxes that are &quot;discriminatory, disproportionate&quot; or designed to transfer funds to local companies.</p><p>&quot;My administration will act, imposing tariffs and taking such other responsive actions necessary to mitigate the harm to the United States,&quot; he said in the memo.</p><p>The move reopens a rift between Washington and its allies over taxing digital services.</p><p>During his first term, Trump threatened to slap tariffs on US imports of champagne and French cheese after France rolled out a digital services tax in 2019.</p><p>Seven other countries have followed France&#x27;s lead since then.</p><p>The tax generated 780 million euros ($887 million) for the French government last year.</p><p>Now the European Union is threatening to impose a tax on digital services if negotiations fail over Trump&#x27;s plans to impose 20 percent tariffs on EU goods.</p><p>Britain, which is hoping to strike a trade deal with the United States, may reconsider its own digital levy, which currently brings in £800 million annually.</p><p>British Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said the digital tax is not &quot;something that can never change or we can never have a conversation about&quot;.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/4/6/protesters-accuse-trump-musk-of-power-grab-and-taking-a-chainsaw-to-science-and-facts-1426">Protesters accuse Trump, Musk of &#x27;power grab&#x27; and &#x27;taking a chainsaw to science and facts&#x27;</a></div><div><strong>Global corporate tax</strong></div><p>Nearly 140 countries struck a deal in 2021 to tax multinational companies, an agreement negotiated under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.</p><p>The OECD agreement has two &quot;pillars&quot;.</p><p>The first provides for the taxation of companies in countries where they make their profits, a move aimed at limiting tax evasion. It primarily targets tech giants.</p><p>Pillar two, which sets a minimum global rate of 15 percent, has been adopted by around 60 economies, including Brazil, Britain, Canada, the EU, Switzerland and Japan.</p><p>Daniel Bunn, head of the Tax Foundation, a US non-profit think-tank, said negotiations on implementation of the first pillar &quot;have been stalled for some time&quot;, even under Joe Biden&#x27;s presidency.</p><p>Franco-American economist Gabriel Zucman told AFP that the EU&#x27;s reaction in the coming weeks &quot;will be crucial&quot;.</p><p>&quot;If the EU and other countries give up and allow American multinationals to exempt themselves, it will unfortunately spell the end of this very important agreement,&quot; he said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/7/17/withholding-tax-for-online-sellers-group-says-tax-the-rich-instead-1631">Withholding tax for online sellers? Group says tax the rich instead</a></div><div><strong>Tax the rich</strong></div><p>Efforts to tax the world&#x27;s ultra-wealthy are also stalling.</p><p>Brazil used its time as chair of the G20 to push for a plan to impose a two percent minimum tax on the net worth of individuals with more than $1 billion in assets, a project estimated to raise as much as $250 billion per year.</p><p>The Biden administration baulked at the plan and it is unlikely to get any traction with Trump — a billionaire himself and proponent of tax cuts -- at the White House.</p><p>Almost a third of the world&#x27;s billionaires are from the United States -- more than China, India and Germany combined, according to Forbes magazine.</p><p>At a recent conference in Paris, French economist Thomas Piketty said the world cannot wait for the G20 to all agree.</p><p>&quot;We need individual countries to act as soon as they can,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;History suggests that once you have a couple of countries who adopt a certain kind of reform, in particular powerful countries, it becomes sort of a new standard.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/7/25/world-s-richest-1-pct-gained-40-trillion-in-a-decade-oxfam-832">World&#x27;s richest 1 percent gained $40 trillion in a decade: Oxfam</a></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-n_Zdxejw3g?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Global tax plans targeting billionaires and multinational companies are running aground, with the United States torpedoing reforms under US President Donald Trump.</p>

Global tax plans targeting billionaires and multinational companies are running aground, with the United States torpedoing reforms under US President Donald Trump.