Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) made a stop in Bellefontaine Tuesday morning, Aug. 5, to meet with several dozen business owners and local government leaders for a roundtable discussion at The Syndicate, 213 S. Main St., Bellefontaine, where he shared what the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) by U.S. Congress earlier this summer means for them, their employees and families.
“We’re changing the priorities in a big way in D.C. We did it very quickly, and we’re very proud of it,” said Sen. Moreno, who began his new role at the beginning of this calendar year, alongside Sen. Jon Husted, former Ohio lieutenant governor.
“My number one ally is Sen. Husted. Both of us are Team Ohio. We’ve built a great relationship with the Congressional Delegation here.”
Moving into his new role, the senator remarked about the adjustment from being a business owner to working in the public sphere.
“When you come from the private sector and you go into government, the biggest change is how slow everything has to be.”
However, he emphasized several dozens recent bills that have gained bipartisan support, from the USA Car Act to stablecoin legislation.
“You build relationships and you get things done. You work with colleagues on the other side of the aisle when you can.
The good news we’re working at the speed of business right now in government.”
Among the changes implemented in the OBBBA, Sen. Moreno first focused on the implementation of no taxes on tips and no taxes on overtime.
For tipped employees, the IRS reports that effective for 2025 through 2028, employees and self-employed individuals may deduct qualified tips received in occupations that are listed by the IRS.
Relating to overtime pay, this measure also is in effective for 2025 through 2028. Individuals who receive qualified overtime compensation may deduct the pay that exceeds their regular rate of pay — such as the “half” portion of “time-and-a-half” compensation — that is required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the IRS reports.
There also are income caps for these two “no tax” measures — $150,000 per person on tips or overtime pay, the senator noted.
Sen. Moreno said many companies’ payroll systems still need to updated to this new taxation (or no taxation) change, so workers will want to pay attention to this issue when filing their taxes.
“The confusion to people is they’re not seeing this change in their paycheck. ‘I worked overtime or my tips are being reported; why am I still being taxed?’
“We couldn’t change payroll systems in a short period of time, so it’s this tax deduction that works.”
Also included in the OBBBA is making permanent the Child Tax Credit and increasing it to $2,200 per child.
“It’s extremely expensive to have children in 2025,” the senator said, also bringing up another measure in the bill, the new Trump Accounts, a type of savings account program that will be available to babies born this year and in the next several years.
The initiative offers a $1,000 investment to children born after Dec. 31, 2024, and before Jan. 1, 2029. To take part, they must be a U.S. citizen with a Social Security number.
Money in a Trump Account will stay in the index fund until the year a beneficiary child turns at least 18. The idea is that the $1,000 in seed money will grow over time, invested in low-cost stock funds that track market indexes. Parents, relatives and others can add to the account for up to $5,000 per year, Sen. Moreno said.
A tax deduction in auto loan interest also was included in the OBBBA. Effective for 2025 through 2028, individuals may deduct interest paid on a loan used to purchase a qualified vehicle, provided the vehicle is purchased for personal use and meets other eligibility criteria, the IRS reports. (Lease payments do not qualify.)
“If you buy an American-made automobile and you take out a loan, you can deduct the interest of the car loan over and above all of these deductions,” Sen. Moreno said.
During the roundtable discussion, the senator opened up the floor to questions, asking business owners and community leaders to fill him in on issues they’re currently facing.
Adam Rammel, co-owner of The Syndicate and Brewfontaine, expressed concern regarding the high expense for companies that accept credit card payments, noting that it’s costing their business about $80,000 a year.
Sen. Moreno said U.S. Congress recently passed a bill relating to stablecoins, a digital asset that would eliminate the middle man and this major expense that credit card transactions create.
Stablecoins are backed by low-risk reserves, like cash or U.S. Treasury bills, and designed to maintain a stable value relative to a national currency, such as the U.S. dollar. In the near future, he sees more and more companies paying their employees in stablecoin, and stablecoin being a common medium of exchange.
Another attendee expressed the difficulty as a small business owner in affording health care for the company’s employees. The senator said rural healthcare is a priority for the current administration, with $1.3 billion provided to rural hospitals in Ohio through the OBBBA, but admitted that more needs to be done.
“You control all of your variables, but your health insurance costs are going up, sometimes 30, 40 or 50 percent a year,” Sen. Moreno said. “That is not OK. Healthcare is our next big challenge.”
A fellow business owner in attendance asked the senator about clarity on interest rates, as her business is planning to make a large investment on new equipment and wants to time the purchase when interest rates are lower.
Sen. Moreno was highly critical of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s lack of action in reducing the federal interest rate, and expressed that a 2 percent reduction in federal interest rates could save about $700 billion and be a huge help to those seeking a small business loan, auto loan or home mortgage.
“An independent Federal Reserve is important, but they’ve gotten way too powerful,” he said. The senator also called for the Federal Reserve chair’s resignation about one month ago.
Closing out his talk, Sen. Moreno asked for Bellefontaine and the Logan County community to keep his office updated on their infrastructure project needs, noting that the fast-paced growth of the Central Ohio region is heading this way.
“Bellefontaine is the next batter-up, in my mind,” he said, also relating a lower cost of living here compared to Columbus and Marysville.
“If there are things that Bellefontaine and the county need, let us know. We also need total buy-in from the community.”
