Senator Barack Obama on the Paris Hilton Tax Break

"First of all, let's call this trillion-dollar giveaway what it is - the Paris Hilton Tax Break. It's about giving billions of dollars to billionaire heirs and heiresses at a time when American taxpayers just can't afford it.

The Republicans have brought out the Paris Hilton Tax Break in June because they're eager to make it an election issue in November.

And I think that's fine. In fact, I'm eager for the American people to choose. Because if people want their government to spend one trillion dollars - an amount more than double what we've spent on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror combined - on tax breaks for multimillionaires and multibillionaires, than the Republican Party is your party.

If the American people want to borrow billions more from the Chinese, spend billions more in taxes to pay the interest on our debt, and watch billions cut from health care and education and Gulf Coast Reconstruction, then the Paris Hilton Tax Break is your tax break. "

---- Senator Barack Obama (D-IL ), on June 7, 2006, speaking about the Republican legislation to repeal or significantly reduce the federal estate tax, which failed later that day.
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Related Article - Senate Rejects Repeal and Reduction of Estate Tax
Also see Barack Obama Unleashed & Unplugged, an archive of US Liberals articles and blog posts on US Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
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Other Reading - The Paris Hilton Tax Cut by Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Jr.