House GOP tax plan cuts corporate rate to 20%, but many already pay less

Cutting taxes for U.S. business has been a major goal for the Republican Party, and Thursday's tax announcement delivered: a top corporate tax rate of 20 percent, down from 35 percent. (Small businesses would pay slightly more, at 25 percent, but the dividing line between small and large businesses is not yet clear.)

But many of the world's largest companies already pay less than that. WalletHub analyzed corporate filings of Fortune 100 companies, a group that includes the 100 largest publicly traded firms. Of those, seven paid substantially less than 20 percent in U.S. taxes, and six others actually paid negative taxes -- meaning they received money back from the government.

Dow Chemical, General Electric and IBM all had a negative tax rate last year, WalletHub found.

Overall, tech companies still paid less money on income abroad than income in the U.S. The average tax rate American companies paid on all their income was just under 27 percent (as opposed to a 31 percent average U.S. tax rate.) Some 24 companies still paid less than one-fifth in taxes. Two had a negative rate--including GE.