More tax data...the rich really do pay their fair share, and more

[billc]

From MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38378992/ns/politics/t/sen-kerry-docks-yacht-ri-saves-taxes/#.UCXiCI5dWFI

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is docking his family's new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, allowing him to avoid paying roughly $500,000 in taxes to his cash-strapped home state.
If the Isabel were kept at the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee's summer

vacationhome​

on Nantucket or in Boston Harbor near his city residence, he would be liable for $437,500 in one-time sales tax. He would also have to pay $70,000 in annual excise taxes.

RhodeIsland​

repealed those taxes in 1993. That has made the state something of a nautical tax haven.
Kerry spokesman David Wade said Friday the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not to evade taxes, but "for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes."
Wade noted the vessel was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine and purchased in the state. It was built in

NewZealand​

by Friendship Yachts.
A Department of Revenue spokesman said Kerry would be liable for Massachusetts taxes if he berthed the boat in the Bay State within six months of its purchase. If the Isabel were brought to Massachusetts after that period, the state would have to decide if it wanted to pursue the taxes.

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/07/explaining-kerrys-yacht-tax-dodge

The Boston Herald is keeping the heat on Senator Kerry about the half-million dollars in excise and in sales-and-use taxes he has dodged by mooring his yacht in Rhode Island, rather than in the state he represents in the Senate, Massachusetts. Today's Herald reports that the "clearly perturbed" senator "slammed the door" on reporters who were asking him about the matter — but only after cryptically responding to a question about whether he had brought the boat into Massachusetts by saying, "It depends on who owns it." Earlier Herald coverage has reported that the boat is owned by a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based limited liability company, Great Point LLC, and that "Pittsburgh is home to Kerry's ketchup heiress wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry." And indeed, a 2004 New York Times article on the partial release of Teresa Heinz Kerry's tax return in connection with Senator Kerry's presidential campaign reported, "The Kerrys file separate tax returns, a common arrangement when one spouse is wealthy...Her official place of residence was blacked out in federal tax return, but a spokesman for the Kerry campaign said it was in Pennsylvania." If Great Point LLC is owned or controlled by Pennsylvania-based Teresa Heinz Kerry rather than by Massachusetts-based John Kerry, it may be that no Massachusetts use tax on the boat is owed. And if you think mooring the yacht in Rhode Island rather than in Massachusetts is a tax dodge, the senator's spouse's decision to be a Pennsylvania resident rather than a Massachusetts one for tax purposes has its own advantages. The Massachusetts state income tax is 5.3%, while Pennsylvania's is 3.07%, according to the Tax Foundation. The Massachusetts estate tax is up to 16%, while the Pennsylvania inheritance tax maxes out at 4.5%. The lost income to Massachusetts as a result of Teresa Heinz Kerry's decision to be an official resident of Pennsylvania probably dwarfs the $500,000 or so at stake in the debate over where the yacht is moored. As recently as March of this year, Senator Kerry issued a press release touting "new tools" for the IRS "to detect, deter and discourage offshore tax abuses that currently allow companies and individuals avoid paying taxes." He said, "It repulsed me that while the average American plays by the rules and pays taxes, some of the biggest corporations avoid paying their fair share." And he vowed to "close the loophole that allows for offshore tax havens to help taxpayers shirk paying their fair share." I'm not defending offshore tax havens, but why shouldn't American individuals and businesses have the ability to do exactly what Senator Kerry and his wife do — organize their affairs within the law to minimize the amount of their money that they have to pay the government and maximize the amounts they can keep for themselves? Mr. Kerry finds it repulsive or unfair when other people do that, but apparently not so repulsive or unfair that he changes his own family's behavior on the matter, to the extent that it is within his control.

Hmmm... a nautical tax haven...

http://politics.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978392705

And yet Kerry never received the tax rectal exam that Romney is receiving.

 

[elder999]

From MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38378992/ns/politics/t/sen-kerry-docks-yacht-ri-saves-taxes/#.UCXiCI5dWFI



http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/07/explaining-kerrys-yacht-tax-dodge

What part of any of that contradicts in any way anything I said?

More to the point:

[h=1]Embattled Kerry to pay taxes on luxury yacht[/h]By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
With his reputation on the rocks, Sen. John Kerry informed tax collectors today he will cough up some $500,000 in state and local taxes for his ultra-luxe yacht Isabel.
“As we’ve said from the beginning, we have always complied with tax laws and we always will. ... The payment is being made promptly,” Kerry said in a statement

And:

The question raising tax flags is whether Sen. Kerry brought his boat to his Nantucket home. Massachusetts law clearly states that if a citizen brings property to the Commonwealth within six months of purchase, they owe taxes on that property.
Just how promptly the taxes will be paid is unclear.
The Department of Revenue did not release a statement, saying it was against the law to publicly discuss a citizen’s private taxes.

​

​

 

[billc]

Kerry votes repeatedly to raise taxes on other people while in the Senate and then dodges taxes through loopholes to keep from paying more taxes himself...that would be the point. And He is an A** about it...

http://nation.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/23/hypocrite-sen-kerry-dodges-yacht-tax?page=1

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.

And this is the hypocrisy at work...

As recently as March of this year, Senator Kerry issued a press release touting "new tools" for the IRS "to detect, deter and discourage offshore tax abuses that currently allow companies and individuals avoid paying taxes." He said, "It repulsed me that while the average American plays by the rules and pays taxes, some of the biggest corporations avoid paying their fair share." And he vowed to "close the loophole that allows for offshore tax havens to help taxpayers shirk paying their fair share."

And once again, he didn't get the same treatment that Romney has recieved...If you didn't listen to talk radio or new media you never heard about this, and if it was mentioned it was ignored moments later...

Have a nice night Col. Nicholson...

 

[elder999]

Kerry votes repeatedly to raise taxes on other people while in the Senate and then dodges taxes through loopholes to keep from paying more taxes himself...that would be the point. And He is an A** about it...

...

And Romney, the former governor of Kerry's state, has done the same, repeatedly, apparently, and will continue to do so. His proposed tax plan will give people like him a tax break of $80,000, while increasing the taxes on the middle-class by more than $2000.

And I don't have a dog in either hunt, here-I'm not an Obama supporter, and I'm not a Romney hater-I'm voting for Gary Johnson, and preparing for pure chaos come January.

 

[WC_lun]

Here's the thing, the very rich in this country seem to have a different set of rules than the rest of us. That is part of the core of Obama's campaign. Romney is not releasing his taxes under intense speculation that he hasn't been paying the same taxes as the rest of us would. Every presidential canidate since his father has released more tax information than Mr Romney, which only fuels this debate. Mr Romney has used his bussiness experience as a base reason to elect him. His taxes are a synopsis of his bussiness activities. So of course this is going to be a campaign issue. If the roles were reversed, the Republicans would be using it as a campaign issue, and I think rightly so.

 

[elder999]

And once again, he didn't get the same treatment that Romney has recieved...If you didn't listen to talk radio or new media you never heard about this, and if it was mentioned it was ignored moments later...

Have a nice night Col. Nicholson...

Let me get this straight-I point out where you're factually incorrect: the price of the boat, the circumstances of its purchase, the facts of its provenance, and Kerry's paying the taxes on the boat- even though he may well not have had to, even under Mass. law-just to shut the pundits up, and you associate me with a fictional traitor or collaborator. Nice.

Again, for the record-I generally vote Republican, because I'm selfish, and vote with my wallet. That vote is usually somewhat balanced by Rita's-that's the wife-a Quaker,who will usually vote Democrat, and with whom I generally agree on social issues, anyway. I'm probably what they used to call a Rockefeller Republican, but that's neither here nor there-what's really important, and what seems to escape you is that I'm an engineer, and a scientist, and, unless I'm in ceremony, I live in a world of facts, and I will correct the factually inaccurate, and concede when I've been factually inaccurate myself, and expect as much from everyone in this sort of discourse.


Except, of course, from you-you I expect to cling to every lie you've ever swallowed, and to never, ever, ever utter-or type-the words, "I was wrong."

And, for the facts, no, Kerry didn't get the same treatment Romney has received-he ponied up nearly a decade worth of tax returns (which is all any CPA recommends one retain in their records) and that was pretty much the end of it, except for the griping from the right about his wife's money.

Of course, Hillary Clinton made a very minor profit in cattle futures back in 1978, and she and her husband lost some money in a real estate investment, and a Republican driven witch hunt spent $60 million of the tax-payer's money, and wasted nearly seven years investigating them, to come up with..........blow jobs.