The Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB) recently held its Fiscal Forum 3.1. attended by a large group of prominent experts from academia, government institutions and private companies, including Ruud De Mooij, Deputy Director of Fiscal Affairs at the International Monetary Fund.

De Mooij gave a lecture titled Firm Competitiveness and Taxation in which he addressed the keys to the future policy on the global minimum corporate tax rate. He highlighted that the introduction of the global minimum rate (Pillar I) will lead to “focusing less on the fiscal competitiveness of rates and more on eliminating distortions in the tax system,” as well as “on other factors not related to taxes that shape competitiveness.”

Prior to De Mooij’s intervention, other lectures were given by Alain Cuenca, Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies; Javier García Arenas, from CaixaBank Research; Javier Pérez, from the Bank of Spain; José Félix Sanz, from the Complutense University of Madrid; Valentí Pich, from the General Council of Economists of Spain; Carlos Onandía of Cuatrecasas; Susana Ruiz, from Oxfam-Intermón; and Jaume Menéndez, from the Economists’ Association of Catalonia.

The event was coordinated by the professor of economics at the University of Barcelona, Alejandro Esteller. He was accompanied at the opening by the president of the IEB, Martí Parellada, and the institute’s director, José María Durán. The closing address was given by the Secretary of Finance of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Marta Espasa.