The Global Corporate Minimum Tax: A Cure or Not?

Mintz in this paper examines the intersection between the corporate income tax base and the proposed global corporate minimum tax. Mintz notes that the aim of the global minimum tax is to reduce the incentive for profit shifting by putting a floor on corporate tax rates so that they do not fall below 15 percent of adjusted accounting profits. However, the global minimum tax itself will introduce new capital market inefficiencies as a result of which foreign-owned capital will be subject to tax more heavily than domestic capital. He notes further that the minimum tax distorts capital allocation by favoring labor-intensive projects over capital-intensive projects. Mintz also argues that it distorts the accounting decisions of corporations when they seek to avoid paying the tax. Overall, it is not clear that the global minimum tax will work any better than other policies aimed at reducing corporate profit shifting.

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