Jim Martin – “Warren Buffet wants to play Santa Claus in reverse, sneaking into our families’ homes to TAKE from their life of hard work and savings.”

(Alexandria, VA) – Investor Warren Buffet and a brigade of his billionaire friends and associates  today renewed their call for Congress to enact even higher death tax rates on America’s family farms and businesses.  While Buffet is leading the charge for higher taxes, he himself is unlikely to pay the stiff rates he is promoting given that the ultra-wealthy typically pay very little through extensive estate planning.  Higher death tax rates also lead to higher profits for insurance companies and their investors, a category that includes the cagey billionaire.

Said 60 Plus Association Chairman Jim Martin, a leading opponent of the tax, “Seniors cannot afford expensive estate planning attorneys and huge life insurance policies like Warren Buffett can.  It’s patently un-American that seniors who don’t have all the advantages of Mr. Buffett will have to fork over to the government the fruits of a lifetime of hard work, merely for making the mistake of dying.  If Warren Buffett doesn’t have to pay it, why should they?

“To Warren Buffett, a higher death tax isn’t merely a political issue, it’s good business.  Who do you think profits from higher insurance premiums purchased to defend against the death tax?  If you guessed rich investors like Warren Buffett, then you probably know more about the unfair and disastrous death tax than your average member of Congress.

“If Mr. Buffett and his pals insist on higher taxes, then I say I’m flexible enough to offer a compromise.  In exchange for killing the death tax once and for all, we will agree to support a hypocrisy tax, that soaks the wealthy liberals who push policies that will hurt millions of average Americans, but will never affect them one iota.

“Or why doesn’t Mr. Buffett put his money where his mouth is and volunteer his own money to the government when he dies?  We can rename the death tax in his honor if he will volunteer to do what he wants to force others to do — leave most of their estate to the government.  What will it be, Mr. Buffett?  Since you are so enamored with higher taxes, we’ll let you decide.  So pick your own poison, because we will NOT allow you to make others pay more, while you skate away with more bags of their money.”

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