European Finance Chiefs Hit Out at U.S. Tax Plans
December 11 2017 - 9:24AM
Dow Jones News
By Andrea Thomas
BERLIN--The finance chiefs of Europe's five largest economies on
Monday warned the U.S. against tax plans that might violate the
country's double taxation treaties and could be at odds with world
trade rules.
In a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and seen
by The Wall Street Journal, the ministers said that while tax
legislation is an essential pillar of a state's sovereignty,
countries should respect international rules.
"While the establishment of a modern, competitive and robust tax
system is one of the essential pillars of a state's sovereignty, it
is important that the U.S. government's rights over domestic tax
policy be exercised in a way that adheres with international
obligations to which it has signed-up," the ministers wrote in the
letter.
"The inclusion of certain less conventional international tax
provisions could contravene the U.S.'s double taxation treaties and
may risk having a major distortive impact on international trade,"
they added.
The letter was signed by Germany's acting Finance Minister Peter
Altmaier, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, his Italian
counterpart Pier Carlo Padoan, Spain's Budget Minister Cristóbal
Montoro and the U.K. Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Write to Andrea Thomas at andrea.thomas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 11, 2017 09:09 ET (14:09 GMT)
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