Posted on 07/23/2010 7:10:32 AM PDT by mainsail that
BOSTON Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is docking his family's new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, saving roughly $500,000 in Bay State taxes.
The Boston Herald reported Friday the 76-foot, New Zealand-built sloop has two cabins, a pilot house fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage. It is owned by a limited liability corporation in Pittsburgh, the longtime home of Kerry's wife, philanthropist Teresa Heinz Kerry.
If the boat were docked at the couple's summer vacation home on Nantucket, they would be liable for $437,500 in one-time sales tax. They'd also have to pay $70,000 in annual excise taxes.
Instead, Rhode Island has repealed those taxes.
A Kerry spokesman says the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not for tax reasons, but "for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes."
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
” A Kerry spokesman says the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not for tax reasons, but “for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes.”
Yeah.....all the millionaires want to charter a boat in Rhode Island as opposed to Nantucket.....
ROTFLOL!!
RI has some serious budget problems. Maybe they should make an exception to those tax repeals.
500K pays for a lot of school books. Think of the children!
Classic Kerry.
Today, July 23rd 2010 just happens to be 2000 days since John Kerry promised, on national TV, to sign form SF-180 and release his military records.
He was for those taxes before he was against them.
Must not be selling enough Ketchup. =.=
Hilarious that the idiot can spend $7 million for the yacht but can’t pay the $500,000K in taxes.......in other words, taxes apply to everyone else but he....yeah, idiots like this elitist flip flop mental libtard deserve an arse beating....
Jon Carry, ur boat r stuk in Rode Iland to pay for skools and fud stamps for our ppl
Hypocrisy, thy name is democrat.
...feel free to add the rest...
I don’t believe that’s the way it works for real folks. MA sends snoopers to ME and other New England states to identify boats belonging to MA residents, then sends them tax bills, regardless of where they are docked. If I’m a resident of MA, MA would send me a tax bill, regardless of whether I dock it in RI, or Norfolk.
Maybe he gets around it by having a PA LLC owning the boat.
I may be ‘mis-remembering’, but doesn’t MA also stake out NH liquor stores to nab people taking drives up there to avoid the taxes?
Looking at the picture on your post I was wondering if Kerry ever made any comments about his running mate’s recent problems. I seem to remember how Kerry pointed to his hiring of Edwards as evidence of his ability to make the right executive choices. Seems he overestimated himself.
They send snoopers here to NH all the time, especially to liquor stores.
“There once was a yacht in Nantucket...”
To avoid taxes that’s where he stuck it..
Yup. See #16.
A Kerry spokesman says the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not for tax reasons, but for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes.
(no link)
Kerry wife Heinz pays no Mass. income tax
Boston Herald - Thursday, September 9, 1999
Author: Joe Battenfeld
For Teresa Heinz, wife of Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry , home may be where the heart is - but her legal residence is in the low- tax state of Pennsylvania.
Heinz, the multi-millionaire heiress of the ketchup conglomerate, has not paid a dime of Massachusetts income taxes since marrying the Democratic senator four years ago, Department of Revenue records show.
Despite owning a $3 million home on tony Beacon Hill and a summer retreat in Nantucket, Heinz instead has chosen to keep her legal residency in Pennsylvania.
That decision has potentially saved her a bundle.
Pennslyvania has one of the lowest tax rates in the nation, at 2.8 percent. That is less than half the rate in Massachusetts, which - as any frustrated taxpayer knows - is a hefty 5.95 percent.
Pennsylvania’s low rate also applies to capital gains, which is a major part of Heinz’s estimated $700 million fortune. Massachusetts has a sliding capital gains tax rate that starts at 12 percent for assets held less than a year.
Kerry this week said Heinz’ move to stay out of the clutches of the state’s tax collectors isn’t related to the tax rate - it’s because it would be too complex to move her corporate and philanthropic empire here.
“All her operations are based in Pittsburgh, all the foundations, it’s just too complicated legally (to move),” Kerry said .
But Heinz appears to be well aware of the Massachusetts’ reputation for high taxes .
Her charitable foundation last year released a report blaming housing costs and the state’s high tax burden for driving familes out of Massachusetts.
Heinz’ spokesman, Jeffrey Lewis, said Heinz commissioned the study after detecting an “undercurrent of deep concern by the average citizen” during her husband’s 1996 re-election race.
Heinz’ decision to avoid Massachusetts taxes comes with a big catch: she is legally prohibited from spending more than 182 days per year in the Bay State.
She is also prohibited from voting for her husband and other Massachusetts candidates during election years. Kerry also files taxes separately from his wife.
(snip)
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