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Democrats were pushing for tax reform in 1984, and Lieutenant Governor John F. Kerry, candidate for US Senate, had some ideas. "You need a major overhaul of the tax structure," Kerry told a panel of reporters on a May 6 broadcast of WBZ-TV (Channel 4). "You need to close crazy loopholes that are non-productive." Though he did not share it at the time, Kerry had recently learned a costly lesson about loopholes in the tax code. Weeks before that interview, Kerry, by his own account now, had jettisoned an investment of between $25,000 and $30,000 in an exotic tax shelter...

Documents obtained by the Globe detail John Kerry's 1983 investment of between $25,000 and $30,000 in offshore companies registered in the Cayman Islands. The document below, signed by Kerry, shows his pledge to purchase 2,470 shares of Peabody Commodities Trading Corp. through Sytel Traders, registered in the Caymans.

In April of 2002, John Kerry wrote a letter to President Bush endorsing the "The Tax Haven and Abusive Tax Shelter Reform Act of 2002". In this letter (linked above) John Kerry makes the following statements: "A growing number of corporations and individuals are exploiting tax havens in the Caribbean and elsewhere to evade and avoid paying taxes." "By sheltering tax-dodgers and tax cheats, these overseas tax havens undermine confidence and trust in our federal government. The spread of illegal tax haven activity punishes those who play by the rules." "The scope of the problem is daunting. Assets in offshore...