Sen. John Cornyn visits Mission to discuss Tax Cuts and Jobs Act extension

2 weeks ago 61

MISSION — US Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, visited the Rio Grande Valley Thursday to discuss the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with some local business owners.

The roundtable discussion was held at 5×5 Brewing Co., where Cornyn was joined by representatives from local businesses including Luis Espindola and Kevin Jackson from 5×5 Brewing Co.; Jorge Martinez from the LIBRE Initiative; Sarah Hammond from Atlas Electrical Air Conditioning, Refrigeration & Plumbing Services; Jessica Delgado from the Delgado Collective; Hortencia L. Camargo from C4 Transport, LLC; Dante Galeazzi from Texas International Produce Association; and Travis Richards from Texas Regional Bank.

Cornyn described the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as one of the “signature events” of President Donald Trump’s first term in office. The senator chose to meet with the local business owners to receive feedback about how they were affected by the TCJA as he works to help Trump get it extended as key provisions are set to expire at the end of this year.

“Hopefully, they’ll tell us a little bit about what the impact was on them and their business back in 2017, and what life would be like if, heaven forbid, we’re unsuccessful,” Cornyn said. “My position is we cannot fail because if we did, we’d see a multi-trillion dollar tax increase.”

Cornyn, who served as the Senate Majority Whip when the TCJA was first passed, is currently a member of the Senate Finance Committee. He referenced a report in the Wall Street Journal that estimates that 62% of Americans will see an increase to their taxes if the TCJA is not extended.

Hammond, who owns Atlas Electrical Air Conditioning, said that the TCJA helped her business purchase equipment such as forklifts and generators.

“Without having this tax cut, then I’m going to end up paying a lot more in taxes, and I’m not going to be able to expand my business,” Hammond said during the discussion. “I’ve been able to purchase eight vehicles within the last five years alone, except for last year, but I’m not talking about that right now.”

Mission Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza sat in the crowd and listened to the conversation. When the discussion was over, she took the opportunity to address Cornyn. She thanked him for visiting her community and asked him what her city government could do to help him.

Cornyn said that politics is unpredictable, but he predicted that half of the extension will be completed by the end of July.

“The President needs to bank this accomplishment early so we can move on to other important policies,” Cornyn said. “But this is going to be the hard part. To this point, we’ve just done the easy part, which is to pass a budget in the House and the Senate. In the federal system, the budget isn’t where you actually spend the money or make the policy. It’s just the framework that now the various committees that have to come back and do the work”

After the discussion, Cornyn toured the brewery and tried the popular Los Vaqueros Blood Orange Kolsch, even trying his hand at pouring a draft beer from the bar.

“This obviously benefits us as a small company,” Kevin Jackson, co-owner of 5×5 Brewing Co. said. “We’d like to see the tax cuts put into place. We kind of hope that we might get an opportunity later on to incorporate other opportunities to especially focus on law enforcement and veteran benefits as well, too, so we can expound into that.”

He said that his company was still in a growing phase when the 2017 TCJA was passed. He said that it has helped with the purchase of new equipment which has helped the company expand.

“You know, at the end of the day, any kind of savings we could do, we get to reinvest it from a capital perspective,” he said.

Jessica Delgado, who owns house. wine. & bistro and SALT – New American Table with the Delgado Collective, described the restaurant industry as one of the smallest margined industries. She said that her businesses can not endure any more price increases.

“There’s a tipping point where consumers can’t keep getting their prices increased due to the businesses’ increase of inflation,” Delgado said. “It’s a critical time for business, and it’s certainly a critical time for the restaurant industry. We haven’t been hit harder ever than now. We really can’t face any more increases and additional taxes.”

“We are praying that this tax relief or tax cut will not be expired because that would just be devastating for many, many businesses.”

The post Sen. John Cornyn visits Mission to discuss Tax Cuts and Jobs Act extension appeared first on MyRGV.com.

Read Entire Article