Avocado Roundup is a morning review of top tax, legal, and climate news stories. It’s written by humans.
- The OECD-brokered global tax system reform aimed at forcing the world’s biggest companies to pay at least 15% tax on their worldwide revenues is weakened by “loopholes” and will only raise half the amount of money that had been expected from it, the EU Tax Observatory warned. (Associated Press) (EU Tax Observatory)
- African countries are frustrated with the slow progress of negotiations on taxation of the world’s biggest digital companies. (The Independent)
- Italian bank Unicredit plans to set aside 1.1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) as “non-distributable reserves” to avoid paying Italy’s one-time windfall tax. (Financial Times)
- Big Four global services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers had total revenues up 5.6% in dollar terms to $53.1 billion in the fiscal year ending June 30. The firm said revenues from its tax, legal, and workforce businesses grew 12.5% to $11.77 billion for the period. (PR Newswire)
French Government Survives No Confidence Motions
- The French government late Friday night survived two no-confidence votes in the National Assembly, allowing its pro-business tax measures in the draft 2024 budget bill to move forward in Parliament. The far right Rassemblement National party and far left La France Insoumise party filed the motions after Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne used a controversial constitutional mechanism to force the government’s text through the Assembly without a vote. (TF1 Info)
- Borne used the 49.3 mechanism, named after an article in the constitution, after the National Assembly’s finance commission considered thousands of amendments to the tax portion of the government’s budget draft, adopting several tax hikes the government opposes–including a levy on so-called super dividends– and expensive credits. (Linkedin.org)
Promotions
- Big UK-headquartered firm Taylor Wessing named tax lawyer Nicholas Warr, head of the firm’s international private wealth practice, to be its next UK senior partner. (Global Legal Post)
- Ropes & Gray promoted 20 lawyers to partner across its US and London offices, including four who advise on tax matters–two each in New York and Boston. The promotions are effective Nov. 1. (RopesGray.com)
