EXCLUSIVE: Mitt Romney Talks Black Unemployment, Voters and Entrepreneurs


Give me an example.
I will literally put a stop on all.

For instance, Dodd-Frank [Financial Reform] has hundreds, thousands of pages of regulation. I want to look at those and find out which of those are making it hard for community banks to stay in business and make loans to small business. In the same vein, I’ll tell every agency through executive order, any new regulation you want to promulgate must be accompanied by an equal regulation you’re going to get rid of. We can’t just keep on adding and adding.

Second area, taxation. I want to reduce the taxes paid by small business. Specifically, the way to do that is to reduce the marginal tax rate that’s paid by individuals. Most small businesses, as you know, are taxed as individuals, not as corporations. So, I want to take the top marginal rate from 35% to 28%. And I want to cut all the other marginal rates by 20% across the board. That allows small business to keep more capital and grow their enterprise.

Number three, I’m going to label China a currency manipulator, which will allow me to apply tariffs if necessary where they have stolen intellectual property or have participated in unfair trade practices. There are a number of businesses that are going out of business because foreign competition has been unfair.

Critics say that with a Republican in office there will be fewer resources for the Small Business Administration and Minority Business Development Agency.

We’ll look at whichever programs are the most effective at encouraging the economy. We can’t keep spending every year $1 trillion more than we take in. I will go through our budget and try and eliminate those programs that are ineffective and expensive. But SBA has been an effective way of helping start businesses. Small business is a great source of job growth in this country. The SBA will be part of my agenda going forward.

(Continued on next page)


×