Political Quotes

“I was surprised to read the headlines in the paper this morning--and I actually saw a little bit of this on the news last night--that billionaires in the United States actually support the estate tax and oppose President Bush's plan to repeal the estate tax. One would think for a moment that is a man-bites-dog story; that is counterintuitive. Upon reflection, it actually makes a lot of sense and makes no sense. I will discuss that today. I will get back to the billionaires in just a moment. First, to set the stage, we all know President Bush has proposed an important and innovative set of tax relief proposals that will help working American families, will help the economy at this time when it is beginning to falter, and will provide more fairness in our Tax Code. It has three essential features. There may be some other pieces added to this by the Congress. Primarily, it calls for reduction in marginal income tax rates. That way, everybody who pays taxes receives a tax benefit, tax rate relief. Second, it repeals the estate tax, one of the most unfair taxes we have ever produced in this country. Third, it largely does away with what we call the marriage penalty, which actually provides a higher rate of taxes for two people who are married and working than if they were living together without having been married. Both the repeal of the estate tax and the elimination of the marriage penalty were passed by the Senate and the House last year.”