Remember John Kerry?
I used to write about him here a lot. He ran for President against George W. Bush in 2004. He lost.
If you examine his record on tax legislation, you won’t be surprised at his rating by the National Taxpayers Union. Senator Kerry, like his late and beloved fellow chowd Senator, Ted Kennedy, doubtless never met a tax he didn’t like.
At least until he has to pay one.
Senator Kerry is stashing his recently-purchased $7 million yacht in Newport, Rhode Island (not exactly the slums of New England) to avoid paying $437,000 in sales tax and $70,000 in annual licensing taxes on the vessel. Of course, one of his aides tells a different story. Yeah, sure, he’s parking the boat there for maintenance by the builder, blah, blah.
Please, spare me. The Massachusetts coast is lined with marinas that are fully capable of doing whatever maintenance he needs. Wouldn’t one also think that, as a United States Senator, he would want to bring the work to his own state, to generate income for a few his own constituents during this time of recession. Like most states in that region, Massachusetts is having its share of financial problems, and any activity that generates income to citizens (and tax revenue for the state) would be welcome. Wouldn’t you think?
I don’t have an issue with someone avoiding taxes. Like many Americans, I try to do it all the time. I would be pretty outraged if I had to lay out seventy thousand clams on licensing fees each year. Hell, you should hear me grumbling when I have to pay the tag fees on three cars in Florida.
Then again, my wife isn’t heir to a ketchup fortune. Or a mustard fortune. In fact, I think we’re out of steak sauce…
Senator, please don’t send your hacks out to stammer out some bald-faced half-truth about why you won’t bring the boat to your home state. Considering how much dough your wife is rolling in, don’t you think she could have ponied up the money to the state?
Maybe there’s another Scott Brown waiting in the wings up there.
UPDATE: looks like the Senator is caving on the tax and will pay it in full. Sure, because he got caught. Or maybe Theresa let him go into her wallet.
I have a bone to pick with one of the responses to this. The Massachusetts GOP Chairperson made the following statement:
“Senator Kerry will only pay the taxes because he got caught,” party Chairwoman Jennifer Nassour said in a statement. “He should spend more time creating jobs rather than customizing his yacht. Democrats think they live by another set of rules, and the voters of the commonwealth will soon remind them they do not.”
Jennifer, wait a minute. There’s something that you and a lot of other so-called “conservatives” need to get straight: John Kerry cannot create jobs for the people of Massachusetts, or anyplace else, for that matter. Yes, he can dock his boat in Cape Cod and give the maintenance work to local citizens (a good idea on its own). But can we stop complaining about how Kerry, the rest of the Congress and the President aren’t “creating jobs”? They cannot do it.
Businesses create jobs. Businesses that aren’t taxed and regulated into submission, as they are now, and will continue to be under the current system. If Senator Kerry and his ilk would vote against or get rid of a few taxes, the job creation will take care of it self.
Thanks for reading.
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