U.S. companies dodge global tax in OECD deal

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

U.S. multinational companies will be exempt from paying additional corporate taxes in a deal reached by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a global economic policy group.

The OECD announced Monday that its 147 countries agreed on a plan to prevent global companies from shifting profits to low-tax countries regardless of where they operate. The amended agreement means U.S.-based companies won’t have to pay the 15% global minimum tax.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said the agreement is good for the U.S.

“This side-by-side agreement recognizes the tax sovereignty of the United States over the worldwide operations of U.S companies and the tax sovereignty of other countries over business activity within their own borders,” Bessent said in a statement.

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann called it a “landmark decision.”

“The Members of the Inclusive Framework are to be commended for their work in finalizing this package, which enhances tax certainty, reduces complexity, and protects tax bases,” he said in a statement.

Bessent said the deal protects the value of the U.S. R&D credit and other incentives for investment and job creation in the U.S.

“This agreement represents a historic victory in preserving U.S. sovereignty and protecting American workers and businesses from extraterritorial overreach,” he said.

National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said the deal ensures a level playing field.

He said the deal “will protect both domestic and foreign-headquartered manufacturers investing in the United States from oppressive, job-killing taxes.”

“This deal will shield manufacturers from damaging taxes that unfairly stifle job creation in the U.S.,” he said in a statement.

The FACT Coalition, a financial accountability group, called the deal a setback.

“This deal risks nearly a decade of global progress on corporate taxation only to allow the largest, most profitable American companies to keep parking profits in tax havens,” FACT policy director Zorka Milin said in a statement. “The Trump administration has chosen to prioritize maintaining rock-bottom taxes for big corporations to the detriment of ordinary Americans and our allies across the globe.”