Chancellor hopes to reach global agreement on digital taxation at G7 finance summit

Chancellor Rishi Sunak hopes to meet a global agreement on taxation of large tech companies at the G7 finance meeting being held on Friday, June 4.

The Chancellor will welcome foreign ministers in London on Friday for the first in-person G7 meeting since the start of the pandemic.

The two-day meeting, which includes G7 ministers from Japan, France, Canada, Germany and Italy, comes ahead of the leader’s summit being hosted in Cornwall next weekend.

Tax on big tech companies will be one point of discussion for the group, though the subject has been a source of friction between the US and other countries, with the former expressing some reluctance around the tax.

Such a tax on such companies would hope to stop the likes of Google or Amazon paying no or low taxes in countries where they make revenue.

The G7 group will also discuss measures to tackle climate change.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Sunak said: “The G7 is a hugely important grouping and it’s an honour to be welcoming my counterparts to London with a renewed spirit of multilateral cooperation.

“Even before holding the G7 Presidency we’ve been clear on our priorities – protecting jobs, ensuring a green and global recovery and supporting the world’s most vulnerable countries.

“Securing a global agreement on digital taxation has also been a key priority this year – we want companies to pay the right amount of tax in the right place, and I hope we can reach a fair deal with our partners.

“I’m determined we work together and unite to tackle the world’s most pressing economic challenges – and I’m hugely optimistic that we will deliver some concrete outcomes this weekend.

“Together we can make a real change and help steer the international community through the next stage of our recovery.”