(Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said the tax system for businesses needs to be overhauled, with lower taxes and closed loopholes, to help boost the economy.

"The best way to achieve reform today is to start with pro-growth business tax reform that protects and strengthens the middle class, lowers rates, simplifies the system, levels the playing field, and eliminates unfair and inefficient loopholes," Lew said Wednesday in Washington after President Barack Obama laid out a plan in his State of the Union address last night. "We have a unique opportunity now to get this done."

While he said the entire tax system needs to be fixed, Lew focused on the administration's plan for reforming business taxes. In the speech, he called the current system "rife with industry-specific tax breaks and widely disparate effective tax rates from one sector to the next."