BY ROHIT ARORA

COMMENTARY

As President Obama extends his lead in battleground states, Republican nominee Mitt Romney must convince Americans that he is the best qualified to fix the stagnant economy. Romney's strength is his successful business career, and if he fails to hit the President hard on the economy in the upcoming debates, the former Massachusetts governor will lose big on Election Day.

A recent USA Today/Gallup Poll found that small business owners are split in their support: 47 percent to 47 percent. This is bad news for Romney since only a month ago, a poll by Manta showed him leading the President among this group.

Mitt Romney's "Five Point Plan for a Stronger Middle Class" aims to create more jobs and generate greater income. The Republican nominee says he will reduce taxes on job creation through individual and corporate tax reform and replace Obamacare with healthcare reforms that controls costs.

Romney wants to eliminate the estate tax and cut marginal tax rates by 20 percent. He also believes that the current 35 percent U.S. corporate tax rate is too high and would cut the rate to 25 percent. Romney wants to make permanent the Research and Development tax credit that helps startups because they can offset taxes on future profits. This tax credit is for companies to hire more employees, especially those who specialize in R&D. Lastly, Romney proposes that corporations should only be taxed on domestic income, rather than global revenue, thereby decreasing corporate taxes on those firms that do business internationally.

Romney wants to ensure that workers gain the skills they need to succeed in today's global economy. He plans to help better prepare Americans for success by creating personal reemployment accounts used for retraining. Individuals could use the funds to enroll in a local community college or pursue vocational training.

President Obama is a proponent of increasing lending by small banks and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). He is pushing to increase the maximum size of the Small Business Administration's popular 7(a) loans from $2 million to $5 million to help small businesses invest in machinery, equipment, land, and buildings. He also wants to increase the size of SBA microloans from $35,000 to $50,000. Overall, SBA lending has risen to record levels during the Obama Administration.

President Obama plans tax cuts for small businesses to help them grow and create jobs. His plan will cut in half the taxes paid by businesses on their first $5 million in payroll. He also proposes tax credits to companies that hire long-term unemployed workers and veterans.

The President promotes "The Buffet Rule" in which Americans that make more than $1 million would pay at least the same rate as middle-class families.

He has said he wants to tax "the rich", defined as those who make more than $250,000 a year. However, small business owners in places like New Jersey, where the cost of living is higher than in other areas, are unlikely to consider themselves "rich."

Perhaps the biggest difference between Mitt Romney and the President is the challenger's opposition to Obamacare, which increases costs for small business owners. Most small business owners are more concerned about the economy and ever-increasing fuel prices. Tax policy and healthcare policy rank lower on the list of their concerns.

Rohit Arora is co-founder and CEO of Biz2Credit, an online resource that connects 1.6 million small business owners with 1,100+ lenders, credit rating agencies and service providers such as CPAs and attorneys via its Internet platform. Since 2007, Biz2Credit has secured more than $700 million in funding for small businesses in New Jersey and across the U.S.

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