Congress Passes a Lifeline to Latino Small Businesses in PA, But More is Needed

After four years of inflation, uncertainty, and runaway spending, America’s small business owners finally have a reason to breathe easier. Congressional Republicans, including freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan, just passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which was signed into law in July.

In addition to preventing one of the biggest tax hikes in history, the bill also focused on ways to reduce energy and health care costs – two major concerns for most Pennsylvania families.

For local job creators, the law is a welcome relief because it will help restore predictability for small business owners by slashing waste and unnecessary regulations while prioritizing the people who are powering Pennsylvania communities. 

This is especially impactful for Latino small business owners. According to a recent analysis, nearly one in four new small businesses in America is Hispanic-owned. As a Pennsylvania small business owner, I know the OBBBA will positively impact my community.

The first major impact of OBBBA is tax relief for both working families and small businesses.

For example, the law lowers taxes for business owners, locking in a lower corporate tax rate and the deduction on pass-throughs that powers economic growth from Wilkes-Barre to Hazleton and beyond. Second, by nearly tripling the standard deduction, the OBBBA makes filing taxes simpler and faster, reducing the need for itemized returns.

On research and development, the OBBBA removes the penalty for innovation by ensuring businesses can immediately expense these costs, helping fuel startups and manufacturers that are especially important in our region.

On energy, the OBBBA embraces an “all of the above” approach, cutting back harmful Biden-era regulations and reducing the cost of utilities. Domestic energy production has just reached new highs.

Finally, on the largest burden on small business owners – the cost of health care – the OBBBA embraces a money-saving health care model that helps employers and workers take more control over their care, including by expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Direct Primary Care (DPC). In our survey, 89% of Hispanic voters say that they are worried about the financial health of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

To that end, the OBBBA strengthens the health of Medicaid with provisions to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. The OBBBA reduces Medicaid spending by an estimated $930 billion over ten years and establishes work requirements for those who are able. This ensures that our most vulnerable, who truly need Medicaid assistance, can access it. Latino voters will get behind these provisions.

And that is not to mention that the trillion-dollar reduction in spending amounts to the largest future tax cut in a generation – because anybody who has had to balance their books knows that we will be paying back what we borrow, and more with interest and inflation. 

All in all, this bill protects the working class by making the 2017 pro-worker tax cuts permanent, thus preventing what would’ve been the largest tax increase in American history.

Now, it’s up to Washington lawmakers to build on the OBBBA's benefits and continue expanding opportunity and prosperity for all.

Jennie Dallas is the Strategic Director of The LIBRE Initiative for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the owner and publisher of La Voz Latina Central, the largest bilingual community newspaper in Central Pennsylvania.