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McCain and Obama's Positions

By Bizbox

As we gear up for the relatively brief (under two months!) remainder of the presidential contest,, it is worth taking a gander at the candidates' respective positions on issues that especially affect entrepreneurs and small business owners--and, through them, the whole economy. Let's start with this recent report put out by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, which we found via U.S. News & World Report writer Matt Bandyk.

The group, which is nonpartisan but which has a general politics that would likely incline it towards the Republican rather than the Democratic Party--on the group's Website, there is a prominently displayed article advocating an expansion of offshore drilling, an issue that has divided Sens. John McCain and Obama--lays out the two candidates' positions on a whole breadth of issues. Let's take a look.

TRADE McCain would move in a free trade direction: lowering barriers, working through the WTO to enforce existing arrangements, and looking to new markets. Obama would move in a "fair trade" direction, looking to install labor and environmental conditions on trade deals and questioning NAFTA.

TAXES Generally, McCain would keep the so-called "Bush tax cuts" while Obama would seek to repeal them while still cutting taxes for, as he put it last night, "95% of working families." From a business's perspective, McCain would ban cell phone and Internet taxes, allow a first-year deduction for equipment, and lower the capital gains rate from 35% to 25%. Both candidates would make the R&D tax credit permanent. Obama would offer $20 billion tax rebates to try to boost the economy.

WORKPLACE McCain would offer employees the chance to substitute comp-time off for paid overtime. Obama would raise the minimum wage (and index it to inflation), allow card check for unionization purposes, and use an initial $1.5 billion to incentivize states to adopt paid sick leave.

HEALTH CARE Instead of the current employer tax exclusion, McCain would offer refundable tax credits: $2500 for individuals, $5000 for couples. He would establish a national insurance market, and would allow small businesses to pool via associations. Obama's plan purports to be universal, and would include a mandate on small businesses to "play or pay". Under it, a small business would be able to buy into a federal pool, thereby receiving a refundable tax credit worth as much as 50% of employee premiums they pay; employers may also get reimbursed for certain catastrophic costs incurred under certain conditions.

IMMIGRATION McCain would generally work to secure the border, while also establishing a market-based temporary worker program. Obama supports "comprehensive immigration reform" (of the type once associated with McCain).

ENERGY Both candidates would offer numerous prizes/incentives for various clean energy breakthroughs, including clean cars, new batteries, and low-carbon energy sources. Though both would implement a cap-and-trade system, McCain's is less aggressive than Obama's, and would exempt small businesses (Obama's wouldn't). Obama has advocated clean coal public-private partnerships.

FISCAL REFORM Both candidates have pledged to attack earmarks and pork, with McCain especially making this goal central to his broader economic agenda. McCain would also introduce personal accounts into Social Security. Obama wants all government contracts worth more than $25,000 to be competitively bid.

MISCELLANEOUS McCain would emphasize R&D public-private partnerships. Obama would create a 20% tax credit for $50,000 investments in small businesses and micro-initiatives in rural America. He would establish a $60 billion National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank and a $50 billion-over-ten-years clean energy fund. He would also expand the Small Business Administration, including its capital outreach to minority-owned businesses.

So there you have it. Won't be the last word we have on the election. But be sure that your last word on the election is your vote on November 4.

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