Trump's tax plans are expected to lighten corporate taxes, adding toprofits of beleaguered US companies.
The US currently has the highest corporate tax rates in the world, but they could become among the lowest if president-elect Donald Trump goes ahead with his plan to reduce the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 15%.
Among those companies that could benefit the most are those that currently pay the highest effective rates. Personal finance website WalletHub scoured 2015 annual reports of Standard & Poor’s S&P 100 companies to analyze how they are taxed at the state, federal and international levels. It found that the overall tax rate that these companies pay is around 28%.
S&P 100 companies pay roughly 44% lower rates on international taxes than on US taxes, the WalletHub report states. Trump’s reform plan would impose a one-time 10% tax on all foreign earnings not yet taxed by the US. Once companies pay this 10% tax, they would be free to repatriate overseas earnings with no additional tax.
Only one S&P 100 company, General Motors, is actually paying a negative overall tax rate and is, therefore, due a discrete net tax benefit, according to WalletHub. Trump’s proposals could reduce or eliminate corporate loopholes that cater to special interests, as well as deductions made unnecessary or redundant by the new lower tax on corporations, the report states.
Companies paying highest tax rates
|
Company |
Overall Tax Rates |
|
1. General Electric |
79.2% |
|
2. Kinder Morgan |
73.1% |
|
3. Amazon.com |
60.6% |
|
4. Colgate-Palmolive |
44.0% |
|
5. UnitedHealth Group |
42.6% |
|
6. Lowe’s |
42.4% |
|
7. Facebook |
40.5% |
|
8. CVS Caremark |
39.3% |
|
9. Union Pacific |
37.7% |
|
10. Comcast |
37.1% |
Source: WalletHub
Companies paying lowest tax rates
|
Company |
Overall Tax Rates |
|
1. General Motors |
-34.3% |
|
2. Chevron |
2.7% |
|
3. Mondelez International |
7.5% |
|
4. Twenty-First Century Fox |
12.6% |
|
5. Amgen |
13.0% |
|
6. Eli Lilly |
13.7% |
|
7. IBM |
16.2% |
|
8. Gilead Sciences |
16.4% |
|
9. Google |
16.8% |
|
10. Merck |
17.4% |
Source: WalletHub
