JOHN LINDER: “there was a time in this country that if someone went into business in some of the urban areas, they would get a visit…”

“there was a time in this country that if someone went into business in some of the urban areas, they would get a visit by someone from a crime family who would say something like this: ``We'll let you go in business, and if you lose everything, it's your loss. But if you make profits, I want 35 percent of your profit every year. If you sell this business, we are going to take 20 percent of the sale price.'' If the government found that out, they would arrest them, indict them and put them in jail. But even the Mafia would not come along and say, ``If you die we are going to value your company and take half of it.'' That is exactly what the Federal Government is doing. The Mafia would realize if you kept that business moving to a new generation, it would generate more revenues, maintain more jobs and in the long run they would be better off. The death tax is a job-killer, but more than anything, it is immoral.”