Richard K. Armey: “We have brought here before the American people an effort to end the death tax. We choose to do that because we think it…”

“We have brought here before the American people an effort to end the death tax. We choose to do that because we think it fundamentally wrong to tax a family's legacy. We have had testimony here about the fact that a handful of very, very rich people in America, most of whom on that list have more money than their families could ever spend in several lifetimes, have signed a letter saying, please do not end the death tax. My Democrat colleagues have seized upon that as testimony to the virtue of continuing the death tax. They are wrong to do so, and let me give my colleagues the analogy. We have laws, Mr. Speaker, against battery, because we believe it is wrong to beat on a person. Now, Mr. Speaker, if a handful of masochists were to write a letter saying, oh, lift the ban on battery, beat us, beat us, I am sure the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) would not say, oh, by all means, we will not only beat the masochists, but we will beat everyone else who happens to have similar socioeconomic, demographic characteristics.”