A G-7 deal on a minimum corporate tax rate is "within sight," finance ministers from France, Germany, Italy and Spain said Friday before a meeting of the world's richest nations.
"We have a chance to get multinational businesses to pay their fair share," France's Bruno Le Maire, Germany's Olaf Scholz, Italy's Daniele Franco and Spain's Nadia Calvino said in The Guardian newspaper.
British finance minister Rishi Sunak starts a two-day meeting on Friday with counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, before a leader summit next week including U.S. President Joe Biden.
The spotlight is on ambitious plans for a minimum level of corporate tax, as global powers seek to make multinationals pay their way.
"For more than four years, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have been working together to create an international tax system fit for the 21st century," the four ministers wrote in a joint opinion piece.
"It is a saga of many twists and turns. Now it's time to come to an agreement."
Biden is calling a unified minimum corporate tax rate of 15% in negotiations with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and G-20.
"The new US proposal on minimal taxation is an important step in the direction of the proposal initially floated by our countries and taken over by the OECD," the four ministers added.
"The commitment to a minimum effective tax rate of at least 15% is a promising start."
