John Kerry Was For Taxes Before He Was Against Them: Thurston & Lovey Avoid $500k in Mass. Luxury Taxes
**Written by Doug Powers
John Kerry, who fights on behalf of the little people on whose backs the rich get richer by avoiding taxes most Americans can’t afford to dodge, is seeing to it that the little people aren’t burdened by an extra $500k in his home state’s tax coffers.
From the Boston Herald:
Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I.
Isabel – Kerry’s luxe, 76-foot New Zealand-built Friendship sloop with an Edwardian-style, glossy varnished teak interior, two VIP main cabins and a pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage – was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine.
But instead of berthing the vessel in Nantucket, where the senator summers with the missus, Teresa Heinz, Isabel’s hailing port is listed as “Newport” on her stern.
Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven – like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau – for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners?
Cash-strapped Massachusetts still collects a 6.25 percent sales tax and an annual excise tax on yachts. Sources say Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.
John Kerry said this in February of 2009:
If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to invest that or invest it in America.
The $7 million dollar yacht on which the Kerrys avoided a heavy “sails tax” hit in their home state was constructed in New Zealand, so Kerry really went out of his way to prove himself correct.
Update: Just because it fits so well, here’s Rep. Alan Grayson mocking the GOP for their “yachts and art collections.” Um, yeah, darn those Republicans and their yachts.
**Written by Doug Powers
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Hey now! We LIKE Thuston and Lovey!
T Bone,
There is a huge difference between a “tax haven” and a jurisdiction that has a different tax rate.
Tax havens and tax shelters are places that people can hide assets that are ALREADY subject to a tax. That is NOT the case with Kerry.
What Kerry did was more analagous to a company moving to a different state with no corporate tax, or someone moving to Florida because they don’t have an income tax. They are not hiding assets that are already taxable. They are simply deciding to subject themselves to less tax going forward. Surely you don’t object to jurisdictions having different tax rates, do you
What we object to is Kerry being a hypocrite on taxes.
Yeah…problem is, though, that he’s not.
OK Chappy, but aren’t you now forced to recognize that higher taxes can chase businesses and individuals away from jurisdictions, including states and even countries?
Don’t recall ever denying it.
The problem, chappy, is that Kerry is being a hypocrite. You denying that pretty much confirms it for the rest of us.
THURSTON AND LOVEY INDEED! This turd is truly one for the ages. He volunteers for Nam, gets three purple hearts and NO scars so he’s out before his boots get wet, comes home with outrageous lies of misconduct and attrocities our troops have committed in Nam, and parlays that crap into a Senatorial career. He marries a golddigger who inheritted the Heinz fortune, which is a perfect pick for this golddigging (_*_). Then he gets his yacht and won’t register it or park it in his state because the TAXES HE CREATED ARE TOO HIGH THERE.
But we’re not just talking about “philosophical” objections. Kerry has made it clear that he has a moral objection to “the rich” paying too little in taxes, that it’s a social injustice. That’s what makes his actions hypocritical.
#205 JHSII said:
#206 chapoutier said:
Chap, let’s go to his own web site, (since removed) and search for instances of John Kerry accusing other Americans of being “Benedict Arnolds” for avoiding excessive tax rates:
Chap, if John Kerry has a history of condemning and ridiculing other Americans for legally avoiding the excessive tax rates that he has consistently advocated for, but he is now exposed for doing the very same thing…and if the definition of a hypocrite includes “a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings,” then how exactly is John Kerry not a hypocrite, as you have stated in #206?
You know what, BrianNY…those quotes are pretty good. Not totally willing tosay it demonstrates hypocrisy on his part, as I would need the full context of what he said and proposed.
But…let me just say you have made a prima facie case that I was wrong if that is indeed Kerry’s stance.
But let me also say that what he is quoted as saying there is different than what other people were claiming was the source of his hypocrisy.
My understanding, from witnessing Kerry’s 2004 Presidential Campaign, was that Kerry was building a political case, in favor of his union support, and against “Benedict Arnold” corporate types who “traitorously” scheme to avoid paying their prescribed tax liabilities.
Judging from the article that I linked to, Kerry seemed, in typical fashion, to drop the subject altogether after he started catching guff for referring to law abiding Americans as “Benedict Arnolds,” so I can’t seem to find any tax proposals that Kerry may have been pondering at the time.
Our arguments are only as strong as our sources and facts,but the Kerry quotes that I found from 2004 don’t seem to be out of context from what I remember of his “Benedict Arnold” kerfuffle at the time.
I’m curious. If Kerry did indeed label law abiding Americans as “traitorous,” for hedging their tax liabilities in order to remain competitive in a global market, but then did a similar thing in order to protect his personal finances…what would Kerry have to do in order to change your partiality on this subject to a total acceptance of his hypocrisy?
I simply need to make sure that he is talking about companies simply moving jurisdictions to minimize tax consequences. I admit that, on its face, that seems exactly what he is talking about. And since I am too lazy right now to look any further, I have to take his words at face value.
In other words…you won this round, BrianNY. I am admitting that. I’ll buy you a drink next time you are in DC.
You might want to reconsider that. A quick review shows that DC pockets 10% for every cocktail served in that wonderful, swampland district…9% if you want to buy and carry a six of Genny Cream Ale to the Mall.
NYC has a much more affordable 8.9% government theft rate. I wonder if Ebenezer Kerry knows about this tax play, before he stocks his pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage?
Nice job, BrianNY
Two things, Brian
You can’t get Genny Cream Ale down here. They only sell that in upstate NY where people are dumb enough to buy that swill.
Second, if you were to take some onto the Mall, rest assured DC will be collecting more than 9%. DC will be collecting anything you haven’t drank by the time the Park Police find you, as well as a nice chunk of change from the open beverage citation.
Actually, I heard a rumor that they have been producing that ol’ Boston Red Sox swill, Narragansett Beer, at the old Genny Cream Ale facilities for a few years now…so I’m not sure one can get GCA anywhere now.
I’m not going to fall into a Bell Curve/Beer debate, but I will confide that my dad used to keep Rheingold tall boys around the house for drinking purposes, and Genny Cream Ale for when we ran out of Drano.
Hogwash. I’ve seen Forrest Gump. You can interrupt entire anti-war demonstrations with old girlfriend reunions in the reflecting pool if you want to!
Kerry just needs to drown some innocent woman in his yacht to put the F in John F U Kerry.
Are there any democRAT politicians that aren’t tax cheats? Rangel the tax cheat, Geithner at treasury a tax cheat- it is amazing. And none of them ever go to jail. How nice.