An overhaul of the global tax system can wait no longer

The Covid-ravaged global economy is at a crossroads: we can commit to greater tax cooperation or risk a tax-driven trade war

• Biden's plans once in a lifetime' chance to end global tax abuse

For almost a century, international tax was a byzantine and foreboding world into which few but the cognoscenti would dare to venture. It took the huge upheaval of the 2008 global financial crisis to change the game.

In the absence of modern tax regulation, governments in desperate need of revenues realised how far their sovereignty had been eroded. A race to the bottom had set in, with beggar-thy-neighbour competition leading to plummeting corporate income tax rates and shrinking tax bases.