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U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stopped by the Harlan County Beer Company on Thursday to chat with residents, business owners and other interested folks about topics impacting Harlan County residents along with the rest of the nation.
Paul arrived at approximately 3 p.m., following stops at other southeastern Kentucky locations. Harlan County business owner Geof Marrietta introduced Paul to the people in the establishment. Paul first responded to a conversation regarding the Economic Freedom Zones Act.
“You were talking about the Economic Freedom Zones Act, we did get that passed in the 2017 tax act,” Paul said. “It came down as opportunity zones, and the idea was to lower not only the payroll taxes, but to have no capital gains tax if you kept the property and developed it…if you stay in business 10 years.”
Marrietta mentioned downtown Harlan was not selected as an opportunity zone, with the closest being in the city of Lynch.
Paul mentioned he was going to look into why downtown Harlan was not designated an opportunity zone.
Following more lengthy discussion with those in attendance, Paul was asked what he believes to be the most important issue facing the nation as the general election nears.
“The biggest problem facing our country is the debt,” Paul said. “To put that in perspective though, I do think that we’ve got a lot going on we should be appreciative of. Above and beyond all the differences and all the politics, people are dying to come to this country. It’s a great place.”
Paul pointed out some positive aspects of living in the United States at this point in history.
“We have prosperity like we’ve never had in the history of the world,” Paul said. “We live twice as long, our kids don’t (often) die in childhood anymore, that happens very rarely. In 1900, a third of kids would die before (the age of) 10. The average adult lived to 45 in 1900. We’ve almost doubled that now, and we have almost no child or infant mortality. We’ve got a lot of good stuff going on. We just have to do what your city government does, what your county government does, and balance our budget.”