Winners and Losers in Obama's Corporate Tax Plan

President Barack Obama's proposal to revamp the corporate tax system is expected to open debate about overhauling the tax code perhaps in 2013 and beyond even though it is unlikely to be passed in this election year.

The plan would lower the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 28 percent, and manufacturers would receive incentives that could mean an even lower tax rate.

Here are some of the winners and losers:

Likely Winners

Likely "winners" under the Obama plan would be retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores [WMT  Loading...      ()   ] and healthcare service groups like Aetna [AET  Loading...      ()   ] which now pay close to the top 35 percent rate.

Electronics and electrical equipment companies also pay high effective tax rates, according to Citizens for Tax Justice, a left-leaning tax think tank and activist group.

Other companies already paying close to the 35 percent statutory tax rate, include health insurer UnitedHealth Group [UNH  Loading...      ()   ] , motorcycle giant Harley-Davidson [HOG  Loading...      ()   ] and Emerson Electric [EMR  Loading...      ()   ] , according to Citizens for Tax Justice.

Likely Losers

"Losers" might be big multinational companies such as General Electric [GE  Loading...      ()   ] and Boeing [BA  Loading...      ()   ] , which can now pare their effective tax rates using tax breaks that let them shift intellectual property and other valuable assets offshore.

(General Electric is a minority shareholder in NBC Universal, CNBC's parent company.)

Other major companies paying a low effective or even negative rate, according to analysis by the group, include Baxter International, Wells Fargo & Co. [WFC  Loading...      ()   ] and Honeywell International [HON  Loading...      ()   ] .

According to CTJ, information technology, oil and gas, and utilities are among those paying far below the 35 percent rate.

Oil and gas companies in particular are likely to be losers, since the Obama administration wants to cut a major tax deduction now used by the industry.

Manufacturing Wildcard

The administration plan seeks a special 25 percent rate for manufacturing. Details on this are still murky, though an administration official said the new rate seeks to spur research and development and production of clean energy.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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