( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama invoked Donald Trump 's name during Wednesday 's presidential debate , claiming that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney would consider the mogul 's empire a small business . `` Under Governor Romney 's definition , there are a whole bunch of millionaires and billionaires who are small businesses , '' President Obama said . `` Donald Trump is a small business . Now , I know Donald Trump does n't like to think of himself as small anything -- but that 's how you define small businesses if you 're getting business income . '' The facts : . While there is no universally accepted definition of a small business , the federal government defines it as any business that employs fewer than 500 people . The Trump Organization employs 22,000 people . But Trump also runs a number of other companies that employ fewer than 500 , meaning that -- under the federal government 's definition -- he qualifies as a small business . According to the U.S. Small Business Administration , which uses the 500-worker maximum in its definition , such firms employ half of all private-sector workers and pay 44 % of the total U.S. private payroll . In 2009 , there were 27.5 million businesses in the nation , 99.7 % of which were small firms . Complete coverage of CNN 's Fact Checks . IRS data on the highest-income people in the country underscores that small business does not necessarily mean small profits . Of the top 400 people â€ ” who got $ 19.8 billion in S corporation and partnership net income in 2009 â€ ” 237 count as small businesses . An analysis by the Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center finds that extending tax cuts for people who make more than $ 250,000 per year ( $ 200,000 for single filers ) would disproportionately help the richest taxpayers : 82 % of the cut would go to people with more than $ 1 million in adjusted gross income , who would get an average tax cut of $ 164,000 apiece . Romney 's plan does not single out small businesses for special treatment . His plan attempts to lower taxes on all businesses -- big or small . Conclusion : While Romney 's plan does not define who is or is not a small business , some of Donald Trump 's companies would qualify as a small business because they have fewer than 500 employees . Fact Check : Green energy . Fact Check : Job creation versus unemployment . Fact Check : Oil and gas production . CNNMoney 's Small Business Reporter Jose Pagliery and CNN 's Diane Laposta contributed to this report .
Obama says Trump is a small business under Romney plan . The government defines small business as having under 500 workers .