Obama bids to stop multinationals from avoiding tax

Proposals to raise hundreds of billions of dollars from US multinational corporations that avert tax on income held overseas forms a key part of US President Barack Obama’s latest budget proposals.

Obama seeks to raise about $157bn (€120bn) over a decade with these measures which could impact US companies operating in Ireland, up about $10bn from last year’s budget.

And the president has backed cutting the top US corporate tax rate to 28% from 35%, now the highest in the industrialised world.