NASHVILLE (AP) - Former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen says small businesses suffer an unfairly high tax rate because they don't have powerful lobbyists to fight for loopholes.

Bredesen said in a panel discussion about federal debt issues Tuesday at Lipscomb University in Nashville that while the United States has the highest corporate tax rates in the world, the country also has some of the lowest collections as a percentage of gross domestic product.

Bredesen said that's because big corporations are able to influence tax policy in their favor, while small businesses can't.

In Bredesen's words: "It's all the rest of the poor schmucks who don't employ a lobbyist to get their special deal that are paying these very high marginal rates."

Bredesen left office in 2011 after two terms as governor.