Business owners: We need policy specifics from candidates

NEW YORK (AP) — Small business owners say it's time the presidential candidates provide concrete details on how they'll tackle key issues including taxes, health care costs and government regulations.

Trump, for example, says he'd ask Congress to immediately repeal the health care law that requires companies with at least 50 workers to offer them health insurance.

Bloem, the FreeLogoServices.com owner, hopes to learn candidates' proposals for reducing taxes on the sale of a company, and their plans to encourage small business innovation through more government contracts.

Brett Randle, CEO of Soulman's Bar-B-Que, a chain of 14 restaurants in the Dallas area, is interested in how the candidates would ease the burden of government regulations, including health care.

In 2016, small business concerns are likely to get more attention when it's certain who the Democratic nominee is, says Marc Meredith, a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Small businesses include companies that have anywhere from zero to several hundred employees, and businesses as varied as dry cleaners, tech startups, doctor's offices and franchise restaurants.

While many restaurant owners and retailers want to slow the pace at which minimum wages are rising in their cities and states, others say putting more money in workers' paychecks will give them more spending money, something that's good for businesses in general.