2014 KY Senate debate: on Tax Reform

Alison Grimes: Close tax loopholes for wealthy to pay for college loans

McConnell slammed the proposal as a tax increase because it was paid for by closing tax loopholes for Americans earning over $1 million annually. Warren has made a personal mission of targeting McConnell, Grimes' opponent, since he successfully blocked her bill aimed at cutting student loan rates earlier this month. "McConnell said when you got a choice between billionaires and students, it's more important to protect the billionaires," said Warren. "We fell two votes short. If you send us Alison Grimes instead of Mitch McConnell, you change the world."

The chair of the UofL college Republicans said, "Alison Grimes is using Warren's failed student loan bill, which relies on raising taxes on Kentucky's job creators by 30%."

Mitch McConnell: Comprehensive tax reform can work if it's revenue-neutral

McCONNELL: What I would like to see is the same kind of premise that Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill, a Republican and a Democrat, had back in the '80s. And the premise was this: We're going to do tax reform but it will be revenue neutral to the government. In other words, the government doesn't gain revenue for itself. It's for flattening out the tax rate, making our country more competitive. If we can agree, in advance, that the exercise will be conducted within those parameters, that it's not a tax increase for the federal government, then I think it would be a very good thing for our country to do comprehensive tax reform, lower the rates, and make America more competitive in the global economy.