Doris Matsui: “Well, actually, we got here by people in this country who led it who said this is the proper policy that we have, to…”

“Well, actually, we got here by people in this country who led it who said this is the proper policy that we have, to have an estate tax. Thomas Jefferson outlawed primogenitor and he did it in saying we are taking an axe to the foot of America's pseudoaristocracy. The decision was made in the very beginning that we did not want to have an aristocracy in this country. Now, Theodore Roosevelt, who signed this into law, and I remind everyone here he was a Republican, said, ``The man of great wealth owes a particular obligation to the State because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.'' In this debate, in my State, Mr. Gates, Sr. spoke to the law school on this issue and he said this: ``One day a child was about to be born, and it was brought to God. And God said to the child, you are either going to be born in Zimbabwe or in the United States. You can choose. But when you die, I have many works and I need money. So if you go to the United States, you have to give half of it back when you die.'' Now what do you think the child would choose? We live in the best country in the world, with the most opportunity, with the most freedom. And we have that because we give people a continuing chance.…”