Excuse me for experiencing a little Schadenfreude here, but William Ahern of the Tax Policy Blog seems to have hoisted yet another rich pro-tax type by his own petard:
In an amusing bit of muckraking, the Boston Herald accuses senior U.S. Senator John Kerry of deliberately avoiding the payment of Massachusetts state sales and excise taxes on his beautiful new yacht by buying and keeping it in Rhode Island.
One of the legislators who made Rhode Island safe for yachtsman is Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who not only fought hard to keep state taxes away from the boat industry but even successfully fought in Congress to repeal the federal luxury tax that President George. H.W. Bush had imposed on yachts as part of the 1990 budget deal. Pressing the advantage after that yacht tax repeal in 1993, he introduced more pro-yacht legislation in 1998 and 1999. As he described it in the pages of the Tax Foundation’s Tax Features:
The centerpiece of the legislation is a 20-percent tax credit to anyone who buys a new custom luxury vessel, of at least 50 feet in length, in the United States. For example, if an individual purchases a $250,000 custom yacht, that person will receive a credit against his federal income taxes of $50,000.
Senator Kerry’s yacht would have qualified, but alas, the majority House Republicans didn’t support Kennedy’s bill.
But here is the coup de grâce and why Mr. Ahern is my new hero (emphasis is mine):
When it comes to voluntary tax payment, Massachusetts has a record of asking but not receiving.
When voters in a 2000 referendum cut the income tax rate from 5.9% to 5.0%, the legislature told the Department of Revenue to include a line on subsequent income tax forms that would give taxpayers the option of paying at the old, higher rate.
In 2006, 3.24 million personal returns were filed in Massachusetts, and 1,162 people opted to pay a total of $189,143 extra.
As you can tell from the small amount collected, Senator Kerry wasn’t one of those volunteers.
Sweet.
Related Posts:
- Rich Deutschelanders Volunteer to Pay More Taxes
- Self-Loathing Rich Liberals Want Higher Taxes
- Rich Liberals Don’t Really Want to Pay More Taxes
- Pro-Choice on Taxes
- IRS Voluntary Payment Check Off Box for the Benevolent Rich
- The Pro Tax Rich Should Voluntarily Pay More Taxes or Shut the #%&@ Up
- Tax on Rich is “No-Brainer,” Author of “Skinny Dip” Says
1 response so far ↓
1 John Kerry to Pay Massachusetts’ Yacht Tax // Jul 27, 2010 at 7:05 pm
[...] Tax the Rich Type John Kerry Doesn’t Much Like Taxes on Himself [...]
Leave a Comment