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UPDATE: Kerry Still Hasn't Paid Yacht Taxes

cpwill

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Kerry's Buck Stops Where?


It’s been more than three months since we first told you about Capt. John Kerry’s high-seas tax dodge on his new $7 million yacht, Isabel, and the town of Nantucket still doesn’t have a check from the senior senator!

You may recall that Kerry lowered the flag and surrendered in July, agreeing to pony up more than $400,000 to cover state taxes on the toney tub. Mr. Teresa Heinz broke out the checkbook four days after the Track set off a furious tempest with our report that he had purchased the 76-foot floating palace and ported her in Rhode Island, thus depriving the commonwealth of its pound of flesh.

A spokesman for the state Department of Revenue confirmed that “a sales tax return was filed” by Kerry last summer to cover state taxes that would have been owed, had he kept the Isabel in his home state’s waters. But according to the Nantucket tax collector, he never paid any excise taxes to the town on the Isabel...
 
Liberals like Kerry see themselves as being at the top of a three tiered society: sheep, sheep dogs, and shepherds. Laws which apply to the sheep are not the same as the laws that apply to the sheep dogs, and the shepherds answer to no laws at all. From his lofty perch, Kerry can then pontificate how the rest us just don't get it.
 
This is a stupid issue CpWill

They paid the $400 000 correct, as stated in the article


So what the article is complaining about is the town of Nantucket not getting excise taxes of $500 dollars if the yacht was birthed in Nantucket,
 
I'm not sure Cpwill or Lord T are correct.

Filing a sales tax return does not necessarily mean they paid. Filing a return and actually paying are often different events. That said, Nantucket tax collector appears to be the local town tax collector where excise taxes are usually levied by the state. So it would be the state's tax collector, not the town's tax collector who receives the money. So citing that a tax authority who doesn't have authority over excise taxes as not receiving the excise tax as proof Kerry failed to pay is dishonest.
 
I'm not sure Cpwill or Lord T are correct.

Filing a sales tax return does not necessarily mean they paid. Filing a return and actually paying are often different events. That said, Nantucket tax collector appears to be the local town tax collector where excise taxes are usually levied by the state. So it would be the state's tax collector, not the town's tax collector who receives the money. So citing that a tax authority who doesn't have authority over excise taxes as not receiving the excise tax as proof Kerry failed to pay is dishonest.

I was going by what the article stated

Not having a yacht birthed in the US, I really cant say much about the tax's due on a yacht (sales or excise)
 
The article is poorly written. US Journalism for the masses in the fields of basically anything technical is awful.
Paying taxes is technical? Do you think that's the way it should be?
 
Paying taxes is technical? Do you think that's the way it should be?

Um, No. Technical in defining where such excise taxes are paid to and if the excise tax return was filed at the same time a check was sent to the collection address (they are sent separately most of the time as all states have collection offices separate from tax return processing offices).

The article fails to actually say if Kerry paid or not and cites a taxing authority that usually doesn't receive the payment from the taxpayer initially. Excise taxes are generally state levied and collected by the state tax revenue agency. Why would Kerry send his payment to a county tax agency? That doesn't make sense.

You cannot tell from the article if he paid or not. Only that he filed a return. The article failed to document the technical details required to tell.
 
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There are two different taxes payable on his yacht. (And I own a couple, which is why I know. Neither of them, I regret to add, are anything like this mega-yacht.).

First is the excise tax. On Kerry's yacht this is about $400,000. Had he bought it from a MA builder or dealer the tax would have been collected at point of sale just as when you buy a car. Since he had it built in New Zealeand, however, the sales tax only becomes due if he imports a "new vessel" into the State of MA. This was the point of berthing it for six months in RI, which has no excise tax on yachts. Under MA law, if you bring a boat that you are already the owner of into MA, you don't have to pay the excise tax. How does MA define a "new vessel"? It's one you have already owned for six months before bringing it into MA.

From what I understand, Kerry has filed an excise tax return with the State listing the $400,000 as a tax liability. As someone else pointed out, that doesn't mean he has - or will - pay the tax. Like all taxes, it can be offset by other tax deductions or credits. To know how much he'll actually be liable for at the end of the tax year would require an examination of his entire financial situation.

The second tax due is the property tax on the continued ownership of the vessel. This is collected by either the City or County where the vessel is "normally berthed". If Kerry says that Nantucket is the Isabella's home berth, then Nantucket will collect the property taxes. If, however, he says that RI is where it is "normally berthed", and it is just visiting Nantucket, then Nantucket gets nothing. As of now, that's what Nantucket says it has received - nothing. Whether that's because he just hasn't paid yet, or because he's claiming a location other than Nantucket as the home port, I don't know.

To my mind the tax issue is trivial anyway.

Thousands of New England boatbuilders are out of work, dozens of yards have gone out of business, and hundreds more professional yacht crewmembers in America are on the dock, but Kerry chose to select a yard in New Zealand to build his mega-yacht, and Filipinos to crew it. THAT is the real outrage, and it's almost being ignored in the fuss over 'Has he paid the tax bill yet?"

Richard
 
I wish my tax burden was as complicated as Fraken-Kerry's.

It's complicated, his tax operations probably cost more than everyone in this thread's combined yearly salaries. Some slip ups occur, liberal, or otherwise.

And I don't just mean on his end. Various tax administors believe it or not, also make mistakes.
 
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This would likely be a non-story if it werent a story about a rich liberal bitch that whines that republicans and the wealthy dont pay enough in taxes. Oh...wait...unless of course it was a story about a conservative...then the liberal Idealogues would have the post count up to about 1800...
 
Do I detect some bitterness and a bit of whining that this so called 'scandal' is simply going nowhere?
 
Do I detect typical liberal ideologues demonstrating continuously their hypocrisy in ranting against evil capitalists and then ignoring the fact that the richest of congressmen are consistently democrats and consistently dodge taxes while bitching and complaining that everyone (well...apparently everyone but rich liberals) should pay more taxes?
 
Now that is the run on sentence of the day. Congrats. ;)
 
Do I detect hyper-partisanship fueled by a guilt by association mentality and over-generalization of terms and labels?
 
Now that is the run on sentence of the day. Congrats. ;)

Its a gift...but that was far from my longest run-on!

OK...maybe for the day... :)
 
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The article is poorly written. US Journalism for the masses in the fields of basically anything technical is awful. It's hard to say from the article if he paid it or not.

I thought the same thing when I read the article. You're led to believe by the title that he hasn't paid, but it doesn't really say that in the text.
 
I thought the same thing when I read the article. You're led to believe by the title that he hasn't paid, but it doesn't really say that in the text.

In a round about manner it does indicate that the tax has been paid

Mr. Teresa Heinz broke out the checkbook four days after the Track set off a furious tempest with our report that he had purchased the 76-foot floating palace and ported her in Rhode Island, thus depriving the commonwealth of its pound of flesh.

A spokesman for the state Department of Revenue confirmed that “a sales tax return was filed” by Kerry last summer to cover state taxes that would have been owed, had he kept the Isabel in his home state’s

The article is intending to mislead casual readers into believing the tax was not paid when the entire issue is that Nantucket did not receive any money, not the state. If the state did not receive its money I am certain we would have heard about it
 
Do I detect typical liberal ideologues demonstrating continuously their hypocrisy in ranting against evil capitalists and then ignoring the fact that the richest of congressmen are consistently democrats and consistently dodge taxes while bitching and complaining that everyone (well...apparently everyone but rich liberals) should pay more taxes?

I've never heard a liberal say this was something they found acceptable from liberal congressmen but not acceptable from conservative congressmen.
 
In a round about manner it does indicate that the tax has been paid

Not necessarily. It doesn't say that the state actually got the check.

The article is intending to mislead casual readers into believing the tax was not paid when the entire issue is that Nantucket did not receive any money, not the state.

I'll agree with you there. Counties generally do not receive the payments for state levied taxes. It seems exceptionally dishonest to cite that an authority that does not collect or levy excise tax never received payment as proof he never paid. It's like saying that food bank never got your blood donation, therefore you never donated.

If the state did not receive its money I am certain we would have heard about it

I'm pretty sure the state isn't allowed to go public with that information.
 
I've never heard a liberal say this was something they found acceptable from liberal congressmen but not acceptable from conservative congressmen.

Lets be honest and say it like it is...You have never heard a liberal at ALL when it comes to liberal congressmen except to defend them. When liberals are as vocal about democrat politicians and their excessives as they are about evil greedy republicans they will begin to have a shred of credibility. Until then...meh...
 
Lets be honest and say it like it is...You have never heard a liberal at ALL when it comes to liberal congressmen except to defend them. When liberals are as vocal about democrat politicians and their excessives as they are about evil greedy republicans they will begin to have a shred of credibility. Until then...meh...

I could say exactly the same about conservatives.
 
I could say exactly the same about conservatives.

And the fact that conservatives formed the Tea Party during the Bush administration to protest the spending and bailouts would kind of make you look even more silly...so...I wouldnt advise it. The fact that conservatives across the country ousted sitting republicans would also make your comments look foolish...
 
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