G7 Global Tax Agreement

Lord McKenzie of Luton Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for his words of welcome. This is indeed a significant agreement. I disagree with his assessment of what has been agreed so far. It will benefit all countries, including lower-income countries. As he will know, this is not the end of the process. A key part of this process so far and going forward is the OECD inclusive framework, which means that less economically developed countries have an equal voice in the final agreement to those that are more economically developed.

[Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, the global tax agreement is to be welcomed, despite inevitably leaving some unanswered questions. As we know, the agreement was struck among the G7—generally the most sophisticated and prosperous of Governments, with more developed tax systems. The tax avoidance industry has yet to be put loose on the detailed proposals to see how resilient they are. Concerns have already been expressed about a loophole being identified, with minimum tax applying only to profits exceeding a margin, and different business models—

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

Can the noble Lord please put his question?

[Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab) [V]]

I am sorry. The question is: so far as further implementation is concerned, what support will be given by the sophisticated economies to the less sophisticated, which might struggle with some of this?

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, as I just said to the right reverend Prelate, the UK robustly supports the BEPS initiative being taken forward by the OECD’s inclusive framework group, which includes more than 100 jurisdictions and ensures that less economically developed countries have an equal say in developing international solutions. I assure the noble Lord that the UK Government also put resources into developing countries to help them to build the tax resources they need, so that they can ensure the effective enforcement of rules and collection of taxation.