Supporting Small Businesses (this really applies to my family)

Lower Energy Costs
John McCain's Lexington Project will address the rising costs of energy that are hurting small businesses. He strongly supports increased domestic exploration of oil and natural gas. This will send a strong signal to oil markets that future supplies will be more plentiful, countering the rise in oil prices. The market for natural gas is less internationally integrated than that of oil - increased domestic production will lower the cost of this key energy source. The Project will transform electricity generation. John McCain has set the goal of building 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030 - creating 700,000 jobs and providing cheap electricity. It will provide incentives for the production of electricity from renewable sources. Finally, the Lexington Project will devote $2 billion annually to research that will allow the clean use of our most plentiful and low-cost energy source: coal.


Controlling Health Care Costs
John McCain has a comprehensive health care reform plan that will reduce the spiraling cost of health care - a major burden for those small businesses that offer health insurance and a major impediment for those who cannot. He will provide $5,000 for health insurance to every American family - supporting small businesses that seek to offer insurance. John McCain opposes costly mandates or "pay or play" requirements that would raise the financial burden on small business, cut the ability to hire, expand, or raise payrolls. 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 this mandate or fire them.
Taxes: Simpler, Fair, Pro-Growth, And Competitive
Keep Tax Rates Low: Entrepreneurs are at the heart of American innovation, growth and prosperity. Entrepreneurs create the ultimate job security - a new, better opportunity if your current job goes away. 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. 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. Allow First-Year Deduction, Or "Expensing", Of Equipment And Technology Investments: American workers need the finest technologies to compete. Expensing of equipment and technology will provide an immediate boost to capital expenditures and reward investments in cutting-edge technologies. 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.
Opening New Markets
John McCain believes that globalization is an opportunity for American workers today and in the future. Ninety-five percent of the world's customers lie outside our borders and we need to be at the table when the rules for access to those markets are written. To do so, the U.S. should engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules. Export growth is the strongest part of our sluggish economy, and we should be encouraging the growth of even more jobs in this sector through more free trade agreements which give American firms more access to sell our goods and services abroad.