Small Business
John Cornyn (R)
Cornyn co-sponsored the Small Business Tax Fairness Act expanding Section 199A pass-through deductions, the Save Local Business Act limiting joint-employer expansion, and the JOBS Credit Act supporting hiring incentives. He supports permanent QBI for pass-through entities, 100% bonus depreciation, and reforms to the Bank Secrecy Act for small-business community-bank lending. He voted for the Corporate Transparency Act's BOI reporting framework but has subsequently championed small-business carve-outs and has supported the Texas-led litigation against the rule's broadest applications. He has consistently received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 'Spirit of Enterprise' award and the NFIB 'Guardian of Small Business' award. He treats regulatory predictability as a core small-business priority, in implicit contrast with Paxton's litigation-heavy AG style.
James Talarico (D)
Talarico has a published Labor & Business plank: tax credits and subsidies to help small- and medium-sized businesses adapt to a $15 minimum wage without cutting jobs, expanded SBA loan eligibility, broader Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and tariff repeal. He is Vice Chair of the Texas House Committee on Trade, Workforce, and Economic Development. He frames closing corporate $0-tax loopholes as 'evening the playing field' so 'more entrepreneurs make their dreams a reality.' He would support state-level equity investment programs and technical-assistance grants for small businesses. In Texas he voted to increase the business personal property tax exemption and reduce licensing/regulation fees for businesses in their first year of operation.
Sources
- Sen. John Cornyn, official Senate website and 2026 re-election campaign issues page, accessed May 2026 (cornyn.senate.gov; johncornyn.com). (full list)
- Talarico for Texas, official campaign issues pages (taxes, education, healthcare, immigration, social media/AI, freedom-family-faith, public-safety-justice, corruption-democracy, labor-business), accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Gabby Birenbaum, 'On the issues: A Q&A with Ken Paxton and John Cornyn,' Texas Tribune, April 20, 2026; companion Cornyn interview, April 2026. (full list)