G7 finance ministers will be dealing with the drier problems of regulating tech companies and digital currencies in a meeting today in France, according to the report by Reuters.
At the meeting later today at the French city of Chantilly, the G7 ministers will come up with at least the principle of a minimum tax rate on all corporate profits, as well as examine and contain the risks posed by new currencies, like Facebook Libra.
According to the French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, “These digital giants are turning into private states – states over which citizens have no control and where democracy has no place.”
The G7 ministers are likely to give a collective response to the concepts of cryptocurrencies and Facebook’s plans to issue its “stablecoin,” noting that, the United States, UK, Germany, and France already laid opposition against Libra development and urged for greater scrutiny of the cryptocurrency world.
France apparently, has been on work to ensure that tech companies’ revenue is fully taxed. It took the unilateral decision last week to impose a 3% levy on the profit from digital services earned in the country.
Per the report, the France decision, however, triggered a U.S. investigation that can possibly result in the United States imposing its new tariffs.
Also, the meeting will be watched less for agreement on the world currencies and more on the United States’ complaints concerning what it sees as competitive devaluations against the dollar by Europe, China, and Japan.
With eyes drifting to the meeting of G7 finance chief, the world markets are caught in a quandary of betting on the U.S. and another central bank easing while incoming economic soundings are beating forecasts.
On the other hand, France‘s financial watchdog reported Tuesday that it will be approving the first set of cryptocurrency-related companies under new rules on digital currency.
