Surrounded by city elected officials, workforce and business leaders, Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn touted tax cuts for families in the Families Tax Cuts Act.
Aside from a tour of the brewery and a roundtable discussion held Tuesday, Jan. 20, at Central El Paso’s Dead Beach Brewery, Cornyn outlined specifically how the Borderland will benefit from the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“Working together with my colleagues in Congress, we put together legislation that makes significant strides in protecting hard-working Texans,” Cornyn said. “The first thing we did was prevent a huge tax increase. In 2017, there was a reform of tax legislation and some of the provisions were going to expire. So we extended those and we didn’t have to pay for them in taxes.”
The discussion focused on how El Paso employers and employees were going to benefit with greater tax cuts to standard deductions, Trump Accounts that serve as a college fund for young children, no tax on tips or overtime, permanent small business deductions, expanded “opportunity zones” and permanent “death tax” exemptions.
Among the changes for Texas families is raising the child tax credit to $2,200 and making an inflation adjustment to ensure that 3.7 million families in the state continue to receive it.
“We provided a new $6,000 bonus deduction for seniors including those who rely on Social Security and reduce (overall) budget deficit by $400 billion. Around 72% of federal spending is on autopilot since it’s considered mandatory spending,” Cornyn said.
Where will El Pasoans see the most tax cuts?
Ricardo Mora, president of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce, noted the legislation the El Paso Chamber of Commerce was looking for growth in the Borderland.
“The chamber unites governments, community and business leaders and we advocate for growth. What you’ve talked about today in the (legislation) is prosperity for the businesses we represent,” Mora said.
Toni Assael, owner of Mora Mia Resturante, recalled that 2025 has been a challenging year that she hopes will be alleviated by the tax plan.
“It was very sad to hear in the last few months that businesses that have been here for many years closed,” Assael said. “It’s been hard to find committed workers. Then we saw the cost of food and other products skyrocketed. Many of my servers and employees are happy there will be no taxes on tips and overtime. This bill will put money in people’s pockets.”
Melissa Spaien, a specialist at Workforce Solutions Borderplex, noted that the overall workforce will also be bolstered through tax cuts for businesses.
“Not only am I employed by Workforce Solutions Borderplex, but I have four children and programs like the child tax credit help my children have access to early childhood education. But it also allows us to sustain ourselves annually with the rising cost of raising a child,” Spaien said.
Finally, Garrett Yancy, general counsel for Job Construction, underscored how the construction industry will thrive with no tax burden on overtime costs.
“No tax on overtime was a major point for our employees. We had a number of employees calling our human resources asking if that meant their paycheck was higher that week. It was a bit hit and a meaningful contribution to our employees,” Yancy said.
Also on hand were El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego; Daniel Perez, director of Regulatory & Government Affairs at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce; Leila Melendez, CEO Workforce Solutions Borderplex; and Deborah Torres, a local community leader.
The bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4.
Kristian Jaime is the Top Story Reporter for the El Paso Times and is reachable at Kjaime@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Cornyn says ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ reshapes El Paso’s economy. Here’s how
Reporting by Kristian Jaime, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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