Sen. John Kerry skips town on sails tax By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa Friday, July 23, 2010 - Updated 6 days ago
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Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven - like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau - for tax-skirting luxury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.
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is apt to spread discontent among those who are. ~ H.L. Mencken
Imagine the injustice of it! All those evil rich yacht owners spending their $ in RI. They need to reinstitute that tax NOW in order to be fair to the other states. Its like when I traveled across the nation and only found tolls in NY and NJ. Everywhere else was free- HOW DARE THEM!
Imagine the injustice of it! All those evil rich yacht owners spending their $ in RI. They need to reinstitute that tax NOW in order to be fair to the other states. Its like when I traveled across the nation and only found tolls in NY and NJ. Everywhere else was free- HOW DARE THEM!
Sorry to disagree with you GB on this one, but how about the Delaware Bridge / Tunnel? PA Turnpike? Any of the bridges in DE for that matter. Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia - they've all got toll roads to some extent.
Vivat Jesus Knights of Columbus, Fourth Degree In Him, all things are possible
I am sorry, I only went to Ohio, PA, Kentucky, Tenn., VA, DC, Maryland and back through PA. and didn't pay a toll except in NY. I must have missed the toll roads in the other states, but I know some exist, what I am not sure of is to what extent as the NYS Thruway. (
Out west, Montana, So. Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, NM, Arizona, I couldn't find even one there in the past.
They should be charging users of the Erie canal (those aren't row boats going through those locks) some serious fees, instead of saddling users of The New York State Thruway with it.
....great idea! Send those boaters somewhere else to spend their money. After all, we are the only ones with good water to boat on! It would be awful if there is one soul left in this state in ten years who is marginally above the poverty line.
Logged
Taxes are for you sheeple to pay-never the ruling elite. He should get together with Charlie Rangel another great Democratic "leader". 
