Issue Position: Supporting Small Businesses

Issue Position

Raja would shift billions of dollars in tax breaks for wealthy financiers toward boosting thousands of new small businesses and the jobs they create.

"By repealing the carried-interest tax break for wealthy Wall Street financiers, and redirecting those funds to entrepreneurs starting new small businesses across the country, we can create thousands of new jobs and strengthen our economy for the long-term," said Raja in releasing his plan.

"We know that small businesses create the most new jobs in America. Changing our tax policies to support small business growth should be a no-brainer," he added.

As president of a successful local small business, and as the former Deputy Illinois Treasurer, Raja has a unique perspective on how government can help or hinder small business growth and development.

Raja's four-point plan to boost small business creation includes:

Doubling the current SBA loan guarantee from the current $5 million up to $10 million. This would help small businesses gain access to financing from banks in greater amounts and on better terms than possible today.
Double the tax credit for new business startup costs from the current $50,000 to $100,000. Additionally, many expenses such as phone bills and mileage incurred by small business owners would be treated as business rather than personal expenses for tax purposes.
Provide student loan forgiveness for the real job creators: Starting a business is a service to the community. Our program will provide substantial debt relief for almost 100,000 graduates who start businesses and create 650,000 jobs over the next decade.
Expand the Small Business Innovation Research program: This revenue-neutral proposal would direct a greater share of federal R&D funding to our nation's small businesses that create most of the new jobs in our economy.

Raja estimated the cost of his proposal at $15 billion over the next ten years. Repealing the carried-interest tax break for hedge-fund managers would save an estimated $17.4 billion over that same period, which would more than pay for Raja's small business plan while still reducing the deficit.

"My plan would build on the Small Business Act of 2010, which provided tax relief and provided capital for thousands of small businesses," Raja said. "Small businesses create most of our new jobs and should be a much higher priority than continuing unjustified tax breaks that help hedge fund managers."

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