Making progress, or going round in circles? George Osborne, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, said more progress was made on countering tax secrecy and corporate tax evasion in 24 hours during the G8 summit than in the previous 24 years. But conflicting messages could yet stall concrete agreements.
The first half of 2013 has seen many jurisdictions the world over implementing tax reforms. Denmark, Finland, Norway and the UK are among those in Europe reducing their corporate tax rate, Portugal has outlined a tax reform plan and the Japanese business community is clamouring for a rate reduction. Few require action on the same scale as the US, though. But tax reform in the US must travel a long and winding road, and it is tough to see an end in sight. Matthew Gilleard assesses the state of play, looking at why progress has been so slow in the last six months and whether there are any signs the process will be expedited.
Cristina Sampaio Cavalieri Teixeira has left her role as Latin America tax director and Brazil Finance Director at DuPont, to launch GR8 Tax & Finance Consulting.
A looming deadline for the US federal debt ceiling, and the discussions that came out of last week’s G8 summit in Lough Erne, could prompt action on reforming the US tax code sooner than expected.
David Cameron, UK Prime Minister, championed progress on the issues of tax and transparency by placing them at the top of his agenda for the UK’s chairmanship of the G8. But now the summit is over, and the Lough Erne Declaration has been released, the question is whether his efforts were successful whether the issues have simply been kicked into the long grass.
The OECD is seeking increased input from non-member countries as part of its efforts to ensure multinational corporations cannot exploit loopholes in the international tax system.
