Representative Zach Nunn (IA-03) today welcomed Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling to Iowa’s Third District for visits with manufacturers, restaurant workers, and small business leaders to highlight how the Working Families Tax Cuts are delivering meaningful tax relief for workers, strengthening small businesses, and creating new opportunities across Iowa. Photos from the visits are available here.
Rep. Nunn and Acting Secretary Sonderling toured Auto-Jet Muffler Corporation in Clive before meeting with restaurant and hospitality workers at Whiskey River Bar & Grille in Ankeny to discuss the law’s new tax deductions for overtime and tip income, as well as expanded incentives for small businesses to invest, hire, and grow.
“The best way to measure whether a policy is working is to hear directly from the people it’s affecting,” said Rep. Nunn. “Today’s conversations made it clear that working families are keeping more of what they earn through tax relief on overtime and tips, while Iowa manufacturers and small businesses have the certainty they need to invest, expand, and create good-paying jobs. That’s exactly what we set out to accomplish.”
“President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts are igniting economic growth and delivering results for American workers,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling. “This Administration’s pro-growth policies like full expensing of new equipment and capital expenditures are benefitting Iowa businesses, while Americans are keeping more of their hard-earned paychecks thanks to no federal tax on tips or overtime. Under the President’s leadership, the Department of Labor will continue to support a wave of new investments and jobs that will spur growth in the Hawkeye State and nationwide.”
Supporting Iowa Manufacturers
At Auto-Jet Muffler Corporation in Clive, Rep. Nunn and Acting Secretary Sonderling toured the production floor with General Manager Kelle Vos and met with employees to discuss how the Working Families Tax Cuts are supporting Iowa manufacturing.
Auto-Jet manufactures specialized aftermarket exhaust systems for trucks and heavy equipment. The Working Families Tax Cuts made the 20 percent small business deduction permanent, giving shops like Auto-Jet a tax code they can plan around. The law doubled Section 179 expensing to $2.5 million and made 100 percent bonus depreciation permanent, allowing shops like Auto-Jet to write off the full cost of new equipment the year they buy it. It also allows manufacturers to immediately deduct the full cost of qualifying new production facilities that break ground between January 2025 and the end of 2028.
“I do the equipment buying here, and being able to write those new machines off in full this year is what made buying them possible in the first place,” said John Rapp, Owner, Auto-Jet Muffler Corporation. “Congress made that write-off permanent on equipment, and gave manufacturers a window to do the same on a new building. For a shop like Auto-Jet, that’s the difference between growing when the work is there and waiting until you can afford to.”
“The Iowans on this floor put in extra hours to get orders out the door, and lately there have been a lot of orders,” said Kelle Vos, General Manager, Auto-Jet Muffler Corporation. “Overtime got taxed the same as regular pay for years, which is a hard thing to explain to somebody who just worked a 10-12 hour shift. Come tax time, time-and-a-half is finally closer to time-and-a-half, and our employees see it in every paycheck. One Airman to another, it’s good to have somebody in Congress who knows what a long shift costs you.”
Putting More Money Back in Workers’ Paychecks
Rep. Nunn and Acting Secretary Sonderling later visited Whiskey River Bar & Grille in Ankeny, where they met with servers, restaurant owners, and hospitality leaders to discuss the law’s deduction for tip income, worth up to $25,000 annually.
For many tipped employees, the deduction substantially reduces their federal income tax liability, allowing workers to keep more of the income they earn. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, taxpayers claiming the deduction during the first filing season claimed an average of more than $7,000.
“For most of the Iowans working at Whiskey River, the tips are the paycheck,” said Erika Pirtle, Manager, Whiskey River Bar & Grille. “Letting them hold onto more of it is a game changer for hiring and for keeping good employees. Today, my servers got to tell a Congressman and a Cabinet Secretary what that actually meant for them, and that doesn’t happen in Ankeny every day.”
Photos from the visits are available here.
