Second, Barack Obama will reform our tax code to provide relief for America's small businesses. He will help small businesses raise capital by exempting investments in small and startup businesses from all capital gains taxes. He will cut taxes for corporations that create jobs in America. He will provide a $500 "Making Work Pay" tax credit to almost every worker in America, which benefits self-employed small business owners in particular who otherwise pay both the employee and the employer side of the payroll tax. In addition, Senator Obama will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of small business owners and other Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than 5 minutes.

Third, Barack Obama will help small businesses get the tools and the capital that they need to innovate and thrive. In the Senate, Obama co-sponsored the bipartisan Small Business Lending Reauthorization and Improvements Act. This bill expands the Small Business Administration's loan and micro-loan programs which provide startup and long-term financing that small firms cannot receive through normal channels. Barack Obama also will work to create a new national network of public-private business incubators to facilitate the work of entrepreneurs in creating startup companies.

John McCain proposes reducing the Estate Tax rate to 15 percent and permit a generous $10 million exemption.

Cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent: a lower corporate tax rate is essential to keeping good jobs in the United States. America was once a low-tax business environment, but as our trade partners lowered their rates, America failed to keep pace. American workers deserve the chance to make fine products here and sell them around the globe.

Establishing a permanent tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D: this reform will greatly simplify the tax code, reward activity in the United States, and make us more competitive with other countries. A permanent credit will provide an incentive to innovate and remove uncertainty. At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions.

To help small businesses and employers afford health care, John McCain will bring the rising cost of care under control and give people the option of having personal, portable insurance. John McCain's health care reform will help to make health insurance more affordable for every American. His plan offers every individual and family a large tax credit to buy their health care, so their health insurance is theirs to keep even when they move or change jobs. John McCain's plan allows those who want to stick with employer provided health insurance to do so.

Cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent: A lower corporate tax rate is essential to keeping good jobs in the United States. America was once a low-tax business environment, but as our trade partners lowered their rates, America failed to keep pace. American workers deserve the chance to make fine products here and sell them around the globe.

Establish a permanent tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D: This reform will greatly simplify the tax code, reward activity in the United States, and make us more competitive with other countries. A permanent credit will provide an incentive to innovate and remove uncertainty. At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions.

Allow families to keep their businesses: John McCain proposes reducing the Estate Tax rate to 15 percent and permit a generous $10 million exemption.

Second, Barack Obama will help small businesses get the tools and the capital that they need to innovate and thrive through making sure that the SBA is fulfilling its lending and grant making objectives.

Third, Barack Obama will support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public-private business incubators. Business incubators will engage the expertise and resources of local institutions of higher education and successful private sector businesses to help ensure that small businesses have both a strong plan and the resources for long-term success. Obama will invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country.

As President, Barack Obama will support innovation clusters -- regional centers of innovation and next-generation industries - across the country. He will provide grants both for planning these clusters and cultivating their growth. Matching grants will assist states with a variety of activities, including building research parks, workforce attraction efforts, supporting regional transportation projects tied to developing clusters, and bolstering local job training.

Entrepreneurs should not be taxed into submission. John McCain will keep the top tax rate at 35 percent, maintain the 15 percent rates on dividends and capital gains, and phase-out the Alternative Minimum Tax. Small businesses are the heart of job growth; raising taxes on them hurts every worker. John McCain's opponent wants to increase the marginal income tax rate which applies to the nation's 23 million small business owners who pay their taxes under the individual tax rate system.

He has proposed permitting the first-year expensing of new equipment and technology. He will keep the low rate on capital gains, proposes doubling the child tax exemption and phasing out the Alternative Minimum Tax to save more than 25 million middle class families as much as $2,000 in a single year.

John McCain will order a thorough review of every federal program, department and agency. The results of this review will be posted on the Internet for every American to see. While the review is underway, he will institute a one-year pause in discretionary spending increases with the necessary exemption of military spending and veterans benefits.

John McCain will ensure federal spending serves the common interests, that failed programs are not rewarded but reinvented or ended, and that discretionary spending is going where it belongs.

John McCain's opponent would burden small businesses with roughly $5,000 to $12,000 of extra cost for every employee through his "pay or play" health care mandates. This will stifle new job creation, and it will require small businesses either to cut employees' pay in order to finance.

Obama would also crack down on excessive energy speculation - specifically, through closing loopholes in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission -and he would release light oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve now and replace it with heavier crude in the future, which are both means of bringing down the price of oil. Obama's longer term energy plan will bring down energy costs as well, because it will help transition this economy from one that is addicted to foreign oil to one that drives hybrid cars, uses renewable fuels, and powers our houses with renewable sources.

With regards to small businesses in particular, Barack Obama supported legislation to provide emergency relief to small businesses affected by a significant increase in the price of energy - this bill authorized the Small Business Administration to make disaster loans to assist small businesses that have suffered or are likely to suffer substantial economic injury as the result of a significant increase in the price of heating fuel.

We have trillions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves in the U.S. at a time we are exporting hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas to buy energy. This is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind. We should keep more of our dollars here in the U.S., lessen our foreign dependency, increase our domestic supplies, and reduce our trade deficit - 41 percent of which is due to oil imports. John McCain proposes to cooperate with the states and the Department of Defense in the decisions to develop these resources.

Estimates from the Minerals Management Service indicate that technically recoverable resources currently off limits in the lower 48 OCS total 18 billion barrels of crude oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. John McCain believes in promoting and expanding the use of our domestic supplies of oil and natural gas when people are hurting, and struggling to afford gasoline, food and other necessities, and when our manufacturing businesses are increasingly hampered by the high cost of natural gas.

Barack Obama also supported legislation to provide emergency relief to small businesses affected by a significant increase in the price of energy - this bill authorized the Small Business Administration to make disaster loans to assist small businesses that have suffered or are likely to suffer substantial economic injury as the result of a significant increase in the price of heating fuel. Another SBA specific goal in the Obama Administration would be to strengthen those SBA programs that provide capital to women and minority owned business generally.

Entrepreneurs should not be taxed into submission. John McCain will keep the top tax rate at 35 percent, maintain the 15 percent rates on dividends and capital gains, and phase-out the Alternative Minimum Tax. Small businesses are the heart of job growth; raising taxes on them hurts every worker. John McCain's opponent wants to increase the marginal income tax rate which applies to the nation's 23 million small business owners who pay their taxes under the individual tax rate system.

He has proposed permitting the first-year expensing of new equipment and technology. He will keep the low rate on capital gains, proposes doubling the child tax exemption and phasing out the Alternative Minimum Tax to save more than 25 million middle class families as much as $2,000 in a single year.