The G7's historic global tax agreement: corporate giants should pay at least 15%

Fly like a G7... and drop bad news on Big Tech. The Group of Seven = the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The G7 met in London over the weekend — and left with some tea to spill: the countries agreed that multinational companies should pay a minimum tax rate of at least 15% in each country in which they operate.

• For a long time, companies like Google and Amazon have been plopping their international headquarters in countries with low corporate tax rates.
• Think: Ireland, which has a 12.5% tax rate, hosts the European HQs of many tech and pharma giants. That's created beef with Germany, France, and other EU countries where these companies also operate (they want more tax money).

The luck of the Irish... may end. The deal marks a big step toward potentially adopting a 15% global minimum corporate-tax rate. That Dublin office = not so clutch anymore. Companies would have to pay the minimum rate regardless of where they're based. The agreement aims to stop large multinationals from seeking out tax havens —  and force them to pay more of their income to governments. But it still has to go through the G20, which includes China, India, and other developing economies.