"Kerry’s R.I. docking avoids Mass. tax bill; $7m yacht Isabel in Ocean State for ‘maintenance’" by Associated Press | July 24, 2010
Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, is docking his family’s new $7 million yacht in Rhode Island, allowing him to avoid paying roughly $500,000 in taxes to the cash-strapped Bay State.
Thanks for PITCHING IN, Senator!
This as he wants to RAISE YOURS!
If the vessel Isabel were kept at the summer home of the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee on Nantucket or in Boston Harbor near his city residence, he would be liable for $437,500 in state sales tax.
He would also have to pay $70,000 in annual excise taxes.
Maybe Massachusetts should dump those into the harbor.
Rhode Island repealed those taxes in 1993. That has made the state something of a nautical tax haven.
Kerry spokesman David Wade said yesterday that the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not to evade taxes, but “for long-term maintenance, upkeep, and charter purposes.’’
Wade said the vessel was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine and purchased in the state.
It was built in New Zealand by Friendship Yachts....
Massachusetts, like most other states, has been grappling with plunging tax revenues....
How can that be when the economy has grown for three quarters, blah, blah, blah, blah.
The 76-foot sloop has two cabins, a pilot house fitted with a wet bar, and cold wine storage, according to the Boston Herald, which first reported its Rhode Island berthing....
Maybe I am reading the wrong paper, readers.
Umm, isn't DRINKING ALCOHOL while BOATING discouraged?
