Slaughter Slams the "Paris Hilton" Tax-Cut Bill

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, urged her colleagues on the floor last week to defeat the Permanent Estate Tax Relief Act of 2006, which she labeled as the Republican “Paris Hilton” Tax-Cut Bill.

“Mr. Speaker, what I think we ought to call this tax is the Paris Hilton tax. Paris Hilton, once this is passed, will be able to jet-set again around the world, buying herself more bling and more little dogs to carry around in her purse and probably never work a day in her life,” said Rep. Slaughter during the rules debate on the House floor.

She continued: “But while we are helping Paris with her problems, I think we need to think of the poorest among us, those people working two or three minimum wage jobs every single day simply to try to keep themselves alive. We have turned our backs on them for over a decade.” During her opening speech on the rule debate, Rep. Slaughter also said that, “This bill embodies the very definition of ‘America for Sale.’”

Slaughter further commented on the heavy opportunity cost of this tax cut, which benefits only 0.3 percent of Americans: “For the up to one trillion federal dollars this Republican leadership plans to give away to the super-rich, we could fully insure every single American who doesn’t have health insurance. We could fully fund the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, pay for all American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and give every child in America the education the President promised them by fully funding No Child Left Behind.”