Business groups welcomed President Barack Obama’s framework for corporate tax reform, but many said his proposals fall short of what’s needed to make U.S. companies competitive with their overseas rivals.

The plan calls for reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent and reducing the effective tax rate for manufacturers to 25 percent. Dozens of tax breaks would be eliminated to make sure these rate reductions don’t add to federal deficits.

To discourage U.S. businesses from shifting operations overseas, the plan calls for a minimum tax on foreign earnings.

The plan also calls for simplifying taxes on small businesses. Small businesses would be allowed to expense up to $1 million of the cost of investments in new equipment, and companies with up to $10 million in revenue could use the cash method of accounting, which is simpler than the accrual method. The current cash accounting threshold is $5 million.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he will meet with the leaders of Congress’ tax-writing committees “in the coming weeks to begin the process of building a bipartisan consensus” on corporate tax reform.

“This process will take time,” he said. “It will be politically contentious. Some will say these proposals are too tough on business, and others will say that they’re not tough enough. Many will fight to preserve specific tax preferences and subsidies, but every preference Congress preserves for some requires the rest of America’s businesses to pay a higher rate.

“A long-term growth strategy for the United States requires tax reform,” Geithner said.

Even the Republican presidential candidates vying for the chance to unseat Obama agree with the president on that. But their corporate tax reform plans go farther: Mitt Romney wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 25 percent; Rick Santorum wants a 17 percent tax rate and proposes exempting manufacturers; Ron Paul wants to cut it to 15 percent; and Newt Gingrich wants it at 12.5 percent.