The Obama administration is exploring ways to boost tax incentives for corporate investment in the United States, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday, ahead of his meeting with chief financial officers from some of America's biggest companies.

"We're examining whether we can find political support for a comprehensive tax reform -- revenue neutral -- but that would improve incentives for investing in the United States," Geithner said in comments after a speech at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

Geithner is expected to meet with CFOs of major U.S. companies including Microsoft Corp and Cisco Systems on Friday to hash out ideas for simplifying and trimming the corporate tax -- nearly the highest in the industrialized world.

Corporate tax reform is the starting place for a conversation about broader tax reform, administration officials have said. However, a divided Congress will make it difficult to pass any meaningful reform over the next two years.

Several White House officials have said they agree with companies' main gripe that the federal corporate tax rate -- topping out at 35 percent -- is too steep. Both sides also say the tax code is way too voluminous and cumbersome.