ROMNEY WOULD:

• Maintain current tax rates on personal income, capital gains, interest and dividends. He would overhaul the tax system.

• Eliminate taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends for individuals with adjusted gross income below $200,000.

• Reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent.

• Repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, the sweeping revamp on financial regulation that became law in 2010, and replace it with new, streamlined regulation of finance and banking.

• Create a one-stop shopping, streamlined permitting process from the federal government.

• Raise visa caps for high-skilled foreign workers and grant permanent residency to foreigners pursuing advanced degrees in math, science and engineering.

The “Believe in America” plan offered by Romney envisions a flattening of the income tax code, lowering rates and broadening the tax base for both taxpayers and corporations by eliminating some deductions. It calls for caps on federal regulation and more aggressive exploitation of energy resources on public lands.

There are arguably only two points in his 59-point plan that focus specifically on job creation. One involves raising visa caps so that companies can hire high-skill foreign workers in the U.S. rather than ship a job overseas. The other involves granting permanent residency status to immigrants that are in the United States obtaining advanced college degrees in math, science or engineering.

The rest of the Romney growth plan involves promoting additional free-trade agreements, designating China a currency manipulator, amending the Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview and similar steps Romney argues support freer economic activity and thus promote hiring.

“The difference in approach is that the Romney plan is geared at generating private-sector economic growth, whereas the Obama plan is aimed at temporary spending measures that increase the deficit, and the recovery, in his view, is going to be led by government spending,” said Scranton.

Romney’s election by itself would stimulate hiring, Scranton said, because it would “deliver a lot more certainty, just from clarity in policy,” and employers could begin making hiring and expansion decisions.