When the tax overhaul went into effect in the 2018 fiscal year, the federal corporate income tax rate plummeted — permanently — to 21% from 35%. Republicans touted the change as beneficial to business and consumers. Democrats charged that it would boost the wealth of already rich Americans. The debate will continue into 2020. Already several candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination have weighed in with proposals to roll back or reverse the tax cut. The winner of next year's presidential election, WalletHub points out in a new report, will have the power to sign future tax code adjustments into law. WalletHub examined data from companies in the S&P 100 to determine the taxes they paid in 2018. Researchers looked over annual reports from fiscal years 2012 to 2018 to identify each company's revenues, tax payments and deferral amounts at the federal, state and international levels. They found that the overall tax rate S&P 100 companies paid, about 21%, was some 15 percentage points lower than they paid in 2017. These companies also paid about 7% lower rates on U.S. taxes than on international ones. Tech companies paid more than 15% lower rates abroad, continuing a trend dating back to 2013. The findings showed that among the dozen S&P 100 companies with the lowest overall tax rate, five organizations actually paid a negative overall tax rate and so were due a discrete net tax benefit. The other seven paid the lowest rates. In another finding, the average S&P 100 company paid a 35% lower tax rate than the top 1% of consumers. See the gallery for the companies that paid the lowest tax in fiscal 2018, according to WalletHub. READ MORE: |

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