Poland blocks EU agreement on 15% minimum corporate tax rate
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Loading... - Mia Graham
- 07 Apr 2022
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Poland was urged to look to Ireland as an example as it blocked the European Union from transposing an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) deal for a 15 per cent minimum tax on large multinationals into EU law on Tuesday.
Warsaw alone vetoed the directive at a meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg, delivering a blow to international consensus to overhaul taxation rules that could delay its implementation.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire described the root of Poland’s opposition to the deal as a “mystery”, and said there must be “some other reason” behind it because all of Warsaw’s objections had been accounted for in a compromise text worked out between the 27 EU members.
Ireland
In remarks to journalists, he urged Warsaw to take inspiration from Ireland, which dropped years of fierce opposition to any such move to back the deal.
“Three or four years ago, it would have seemed absolutely impossible that Ireland would accept this minimum tax because their entire economic model would have been called into question,” Mr Le Maire said in response to a question by The Irish Times.
“But I remember meeting in Dublin with the president with the prime minister with the Irish ministers, and then at the end of the day, Ireland said yes. Yes, they said, this is fair. It’s more effective. We have to do it,” he added.
“The willingness to compromise on the part of the Irish government helped us to get to where we are,” Mr Le Maire said. “I wish for Poland to look to that Irish example.”
Polish revenue chief Magdalena Rzeczkowska announced her country would not back the deal in a publicly-broadcast session of the 27 EU ministers.
Poland was left as the only member state to oppose the deal, which required consensus to pass, after Estonia accepted a tweak to the text to allay their concerns about the burden of implementation on their tax authorities. Read More…
