The Global Minimum Tax: Illusion, Intrigue, and Canada’s Choice

Abstract

In August 2023, Canada’s Department of Finance released the draft Global Minimum Tax Act, which would implement a tax designed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for simultaneous adoption by many countries. Although still awaiting royal assent, the GMT is widely expected to be enacted. This talk will first explain why the GMT is likely to be adverse to Canada’s national interest—and the national interests of a number of countries that originally advocated for the tax. Moreover, contrary to popular claims, Canada is not forced into adopting the tax just because other countries adopt it. Finally, the GMT solves no global collective action problem, because it doesn’t advance any clear common goal shared among nations. How, then, did so many people come to subscribe to beliefs opposite to these conclusions? In answer, the talk will offer some reflection on the roles of the media, the global tax profession, international organizations, and other players in this ongoing global drama.

Speaker bio: Professor Wei Cui joined the UBC law faculty in 2013. His scholarship spans a wide range of topics in tax law and policy. His current research interests include international taxation and tax and subsidy policies designed to combat climate change and to support innovation. He is the author of The Administrative Foundations of the Chinese Fiscal State (2022) and (with Schenk and Thuronyi) Value Added Tax: A Comparative Approach (2nd ed., 2015), both published by Cambridge University Press. He was a visiting professor of law at New York University School of Law in fall 2022, and had previously held visiting appointments at Michigan, Columbia, and Melbourne Law Schools, among other institutions.  Before becoming a full-time academic, Professor Cui practiced tax law for over 10 years with leading global firms in New York and Beijing. He received a B.A. from Harvard College and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School. Before studying law, he pursued graduate studies in philosophy.

This talk is being presented by the Centre for Business Law at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia (UBC).