Like A Good Lib, Kerry Avoids Taxes
by Big Dog on Jul 24, 2010 at 05:05 Political
Like Tim Geithner and Charlie Rangel, John Kerry is not fond of taxes if he has to pay them. He is perfectly OK with voting for tax increases which he has done his entire career but when it comes to paying taxes, well that’s another thing all together. We already know that Kerry does not check the box on his Massachusetts tax form asking that he be taxed at the higher rate but now he has avoided six figures in tax by berthing his new, 7 million dollar yacht, in Rhode Island where he can avoid nearly a half million dollars in taxes up front and about 70,000 dollars in taxes yearly.
Isabel – Kerry’s luxe, 76-foot New Zealand-built Friendship sloop with an Edwardian-style, glossy varnished teak interior, two VIP main cabins and a pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage – was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine.
But instead of berthing the vessel in Nantucket, where the senator summers with the missus, Teresa Heinz, Isabel’s hailing port is listed as “Newport” on her stern.
Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven – like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau – for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners? Boston Herald
A spokesperson says it is berthed there for maintenance (how often should a new 7 million dollar boat need maintenance).
There is no coincidence here and the maintenance story is a ruse. The man does not want to pay taxes and he has found a way to avoid them. This is typical for the ruling class because they consider themselves better than the rest of us. Taxes are for the serfs, not for the elites who vote to impose them.
This guy is a fraud and is a perfect example of the Democrats who think taxes are a wondeful thing unless they have to pay them.
Of course, they like tax cuts in election years. But then again, hypocrisy reigns supreme among the liberal elite.
Where are the liberals screaming that he can afford to pay the money? Hell, he bought a 7 million dollar boat so he should be able to pay the half million in sales taxes and 70,000 dollar annual tax. He is depriving Massachusetts of money it desperately needs to pay for the bloated health care system and other social programs that are in the hole.
It is, after all, for the children.
Has he no shame? Where is his compassion?
Is he not a patriot? Joe Biden said paying taxes was patriotic so what does that make Kerry?
Scratch that, we already know he is not a patriot by his past anti American activities. Where is sheriff Joe Biden to police this up and make this man a patriot?
Never surrender, never submit.
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Tags: charlie rangel, hypocrites, john kerry, lies, tax avoidance, tim geithner, yacht
“This guy is a fraud and is a perfect example of the Democrats who think taxes are a wonderful thing unless they have to pay them.”
Well, we did decline to elect him president, at least.
Humans respond to incentives and disincentives. Carrots and sticks work. That’s why revenues from a newly imposed tax — a disincentive to do the thing being taxed — tend to fall after the first year. People seek ways to avert them, and there are usually several such. But don’t bother trying to explain incentives to a left-liberal; that would be against their religion.
This is a silly story if you ask me. First of all the comparison to other Democrats isn’t valid. Geithner (who is hardly a Democrat anyway) failed to pay taxes he actually owed on self-employment and Rangel is a corrupt tax cheat. Kerry hasn’t broken a law so he hardly merits a comparison to those two.
Second, I see how you think there is hypocrisy or irony here but the truth is Kerry has supported policies that would increase his own taxes even if you find it funny he might have dodged taxes on a yacht. The man’s net worth is in the area of 200 million and he’s voted against his own economic well being many times which would cost him millions in taxes over the years. Shouldn’t that outweigh him finding a way to save money on a yacht? I’d think so personally.
If Kerry has that much money (and I do not doubt you- liberals sniff each other’s money like dogs sniff each other’s butts), why be so niggardly as to evade his own state’s tax structure.
You might think that he would feel that he is doing his duty to help his state’s own debt problem, which you have to agree, with its disastrous healthcare problem, needs all the money it can get- but nooooooooooooooooo-
Instead, just like all other rich libs, Kerry avoids and evades any taxes he can.
And actually, it is his wife who has the money- Kerry is just a gigolo with a government job- if he was on his own, he’d be selling his blood and standing with a sign saying “Over-decorated Viet Nam vet needs money- Plze help” under a freeway.
By the way people- do not buy Heintz products- it just encourages wrong behavior.
And while Lil’ Timmy G might not be a Dem, he sure is a progressive, which is worse.
“Instead, just like all other rich libs, Kerry avoids and evades any taxes he can.”
This is hardly something only liberals do and let’s not combine avoiding taxes with evading taxes which are two completely different things. Or maybe since Kerry is a Democrat then he has to pay any possible tax and go out of his way to do so or else he’s a hypocrite?
The narrative here is that Kerry somehow doesn’t pay the taxes he forces on others which is nonsense. He pays his state and federal taxes just like everybody else. It’s not like the rest of us are forced to dock our $7 million yacht in our home states while Kerry gets away with something because he’s elite.
Be a man, Adam. Admit the hypocrisy in those you support, if only to prove you can acknowledge reality.
Kerry wants higher taxes on all of us. But given a chance to pay them himself, voluntarily, not only does he “decline,” he takes advantage of whatever tax shelters are available — and then goes on to catechize “the rich” for doing what he does!
When you manage to grow out of your left-liberal dogma and acknowledge the connections between word and deed, then you’ll be worth listening to.
“Admit the hypocrisy in those you support, if only to prove you can acknowledge reality.”
While there are clearly Democrats I carry water for and will spin for, Kerry is not one of them.
“When you manage to grow out of your left-liberal dogma and acknowledge the connections between word and deed, then you’ll be worth listening to.”
Feel free to provide the words that make his deeds hypocritical. I’ve already told Big Dog that is all he needs to settle the issue with me.
I would have to say that it is EVASION, since he has a perfectly good marina nearer to his home, and as a Mass. resident, he should be proud to pony up taxes to help his state, not giving them to Rhode Island, where the taxes are less, but still taxes-
So it is evasion, because by fraudelently berthing his Mass. boat in another state he saves money that you on the left would say (if this were a conservative) that he would never miss, because of his wife’s great wealth.
You libbies would scream hypocrisy from the top of Fenway Park.
Obviously Adam is delusional. If you are in COngress and you rail about people paying their fair share and say that the rich use loopholes and it is not fair, blah, blah then you can’t use loopholes to avoid paying taxes.
Is what Kerry did illegal, no but it is hypocritical. Is it illegal for companies to establish their offices out of the country to avoid taxes? NO but Kerry and people like him will go after such companies.
When a company uses a legal thing to avoid taxes Kerry and his ilk are all over them but when he does it we are supposed to think he pays his fair share.
And Adam, Kerry and his wife made 2.54 million dollars in untaxed interest because they put their money where they can avoid taxes so don’t tell me he pays his fair share. He does not think others pay their fair share when they use legal procedures to avoid taxes.
Kerry likes to impose taxes on others but he avoids taxes himself.
HYPOCRITE.
And he does not check the box to pay the higher rate in his state. He is a hypocrite…
Throwing out the doubts about whether Kerry actually is doing this to save on taxes, the only way I would agree that Kerry is hypocritical is if you can show me a specific quote from Kerry railing against “fair share” and tax loop holes for the rich. I have no love for Kerry and no need to carry water for him.
OK Adam,
This article was written by Kerry in 2009. It deals with wealthy Americans who use put money in Swiss accounts to avoid taxes and corporations that use loopholes to avoid taxes (while talking about free trade agreements):
You can find it on page two of the article.
Kerry is discussing offshore accounts and other vehicles used by “wealthy Americans” to “flout tax laws”. I think this meets what you asked for.
Not so fast. Kerry’s article is talking about tax evasion and other criminal activity, not tax avoidance. You said yourself he’s not breaking any laws. So because he’s against tax evasion through foreign shelters he no longer gets the legal right to avoid taxes by any means permitted by law lest he be considered a hypocrite? I find that doubtful.
Not so fast. While Kerry is certainly discussing tax evasion he is also talking about corporations who set up off shore which is perfectly legal. He does not like the idea that corporations set up off shore and avoid taxes even though it is legal. This is why many companies have HQ in Delaware, favorable taxes and it is why some in Congress want to end the ability to do that.
But, back to Kerry. Yes, some was about illegal activity but the portions about corporations going off shore deal with legal activities.
Just ask his wife whose company is mostly off shore. And the Kerry’s like the idea of paying taxes that he imposes so much that she had 2.54 million dollars in non taxed income…
Avoiding or evading- Adam, it depends on who is in power- just look at Charlie Rangel- now, I haven’t said that what Kerry did was illegal, but is it HYPOCRITICAL? Yes- especially given the speeches and positions the Progressive/Dems have given about “paying your fair share”.
I want to see Hussein’s tax forms, and find out how much the IRS was able to “clawback” from him, or whether he was given special treatment- same for Kerry and his wife.
Seems that they could pay millions in taxes, and yet not miss those dollars, but I will bet they found some loopholes regular folks do not get.
What do you bet, Adam?
Blake is calling Kerry a hypocrite based on the words of other liberals.
Porretto wrote about “words and deeds” but provided no proof of those words by Kerry that make his deeds hypocritical.
Big Dog has attempted to do so by posting an article from Kerry arguing against about illegal or shady offshore practices which are not even close to what Kerry is allegedly doing with his boat.
None of this proves Kerry is a hypocrite.
Notice how when it involves corporations LEGALLY avoiding taxes by going off shore Adam calls it a “shady practice” but when Kerry did it he broke no laws.
Not only did I attempt to show it, I did show it. Kerry was discussing both legal and illegal means to avoid taxes when he wrote that article. Some of it was about Swiss accounts and the other pat was about corporations moving off shore, which is perfectly legal.
Kerry did not like business moving off shore to avoid taxes (even though it was legal) but he did the same thing. That is hypocrisy.
And if you want to know, the process Kerry was against was described as a loophole. A loophole is a legal means to do something. So yes, I showed it with no difficulty.
Face it Adam, you would rationalize and equivocate because Kerry is a Dem. If he were a Republican you would be screaming about how he is avoiding taxes and screwing people…
“Notice how when it involves corporations LEGALLY avoiding taxes by going off shore Adam calls it a ‘shady practice’ but when Kerry did it he broke no laws.
…
Kerry did not like business moving off shore to avoid taxes (even though it was legal) but he did the same thing. That is hypocrisy.”
First of all are we talking about legally avoiding taxes in the US as Kerry is accused of doing, legally moving transactions and business operations overseas to avoid taxes and other fees as you’ve suggested the Heinz company has done, or the illegal practice of storing money in offshore accounts to hide it from the IRS? Because I can’t tell anymore and you seem to be accusing Kerry of being against and taking part in all three somehow. Please clarify.
“Kerry was discussing both legal and illegal means to avoid taxes when he wrote that article.
…
And if you want to know, the process Kerry was against was described as a loophole.”
Wrong. Even if Kerry was talking about legal and illegel means, he was still talking very specifically about abuse through offshore accounts in Panama. You cannot truthfully stretch it’s meaning into a general statement on his lack of support for avoiding taxes or loopholes in the US.
“Face it Adam, you would rationalize and equivocate because Kerry is a Dem.”
Don’t mistake it for being partisan. It’s just my strange inability to accept the “facts” you’re just making up as you go along. I know you’ve been hoping I’d find a cure for that…
I don’t make the facts up as I go along. You, true to Alinsky, keep changing things. It is a fact that Kerry railed against legal means of avoiding taxes and then he avoided taxes through legal means. Not in dispute.
You now change the goalposts to Kerry is avoiding taxes in the states and corporations are moving off. If you want to microcosm it, Kerry moved offshore from Massachusetts.
I have never accused him of all three, you are simply lying to confuse the issue. I have said all along that Kerry railed against people who avoided taxes and then he avoids them and I showed he did it with the boat as well as when he does not check the box to pay higher taxes on his income (in MA). As for his wife and offshore, she moved the business there and she made a lot of money in non taxed income. Even if you claim Kerry is only upset about those who avoid taxes by skipping to offshore, well his wife did that.
We also know that Kerry wanted to close the loophole used by KBR to avoid payroll taxed. Keep in mind what KBR did was legal:
So The Swamp political blog reports that this news has lead Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John Kerry Thursday “to propose legislation that would prohibit companies like KBR from exploiting tax havens to avoid payroll taxes.” NPR
It does not matter if it is despicable, wrong, or immoral, KBR was exploiting a loophole in the law to avoid taxes. Not much different than Kerry did and he went after KBR.
Kerry has not in any of your evidence issued a blanket statement against avoiding taxes but each piece focuses solely on the issue of offshore accounts.
Your attack uses some magic. You have taken every form of legal and illegal means of not paying taxes onshore and offshore and combined them into one big idea. When you find Kerry opposed to one piece of that idea and taking part in another piece, you have magically extend his opposition over the rest of that group and then called him a hypocrite.
If you’d take a step back you’d see that is incredibly dishonest and counter to the evidence you have presented.
Kerry didn’t check to pay more taxes? Who cares? Show me Kerry talking about who should or shouldn’t check that box.
Adam, I have not lumped all activities together. You have stated this to obfuscate the issue. I was very clear about it and you are being dishonest at best.
I do not have to show you Kerry saying something about one piece of tax legislation or one tax act. HIS ENTIRE career has involved RAISING taxes and railing against the rich for not paying their “fair share.” Now when he is in line to pay his fair share he finds a way not to do it.
It does not matter if it is legal or not. What matters is Kerry has been a proponent for higher taxes on the rich and he avoided paying taxes that he can afford. Kerry and his ilk like to complain about millionaires who do not pay their fair share because they do not pay themselves a salary and instead get money from capital gains which are taxed at a lower rate (Buffet does this). This is perfectly legal but the liberals can’t stand it because the rich are avoiding their “fair share.”
If YOU would step back from the situation you would see that Kerry did something you are against. He is rich and avoided paying his taxes.
Nothing I have stated is dishonest. It takes Kerry to task for legaly avoiding taxes when he has spent his career raising taxes, particularly on the rich, and has railed against those who did not pay their fair share whether through LEGAL means or ILLEGAL (is that clear enough for you now).
You still get apoplectic over Cheney and Halliburton even though Cheney donated ALL his stock in the company to charity (through an irrevocable trust) and he did NOT profit from anything Halliburton did while a US contractor and Cheney was VP. He might have been paid deferred retirement but that is not an issue, he earned the money. The stock you rail against was given away and Cheney made no money from any of it. You are incredibly dishonest when defending Kerry considering your rants about Cheney and his supposed Halliburton money.
I do not expect you to understand or admit to any of it. It is in your blood to defend libs no matter what. But keep this in mind should some Republican find a way to avoid taxes. Despite your personal attacks on Limbaugh, he moved to Florida to avoid NY taxes (not for drugs as you claim). Why is it you libs will attack him and if it does not fit your agenda you will throw in allegations that it was done for drugs? You always play these games when your lib buddies are involved.
“It takes Kerry to task for legally avoiding taxes when he has spent his career raising taxes, particularly on the rich, and has railed against those who did not pay their fair share whether through LEGAL means or ILLEGAL (is that clear enough for you now).”
Yes, he’s spent his career raising taxes…on himself. Funny though. If a guy has spent his career “railing” I’d think you’d have more quotes to pick from, more votes, more articles. I’d think you’d have more than just an article showing Kerry’s opposition to offshore tax shelters which you use to prove his opposition to all forms of tax evasion and avoidance.
But then when all else fails you too fall back on attacking Kerry for the stance of his so-called “ilk” and not his individual views. Funny how that works. Maybe I shouldn’t shop in Delaware because I can afford to pay sales tax and I’m a Democrat and I support higher taxes on the rich? Am I a hypocrite too?
Kerry may have the quotes out there that I seek. He may have tons of instances where he did what you said he’s done over his whole career. I’d love to see it though, you haven’t shown anything here to make that case.
“Why is it you libs will attack him and if it does not fit your agenda you will throw in allegations that it was done for drugs?”
Sorry. That one was said purely in jest. I simply like poking fun at that 4 times married fat drug addicted racist liar otherwise known as the voice of your movement.
If you would like to go through the Congressional Record, you go ahead. Kerry spent a career raising taxes on himself? Are you dense? The rich know how to avoid taxes and Kerry’s wife had millions in untaxed income from investments.
No Adam, YOU LIVE IN DELAWARE. There is no comparison. Your state does not have a sales tax. Kerry is a citizen of Massachusetts and docked a boat in another state to avoid taxes. There is a difference that even you should recognize.
You call Limbaugh names but no one can prove he is a racist as any so called racist quote attributed to him has never been sourced back to him. Other quotes are pipe dreams of morons who see racism in everthing. Remember, racism is a phony charge leveled by liberals for political purposes. Your side told us that.
Who cares how many times he has been married or if he is a recovering addict? I find it simply amazing that you will excuse every lib who has a drug and/or alcohol problem (like Ted Kennedy whose drunk driving killed a woman) and his son who smashed up a car while drugged up but refuse to recognize that this man had a problem and he received treatment foe it. He became addicted the way millions of people do each year, through drugs legally prescribed for pain.
You ares simply jealous that Limbaugh is a brighter, more successful man than you will ever be. Interesting that you like to poke fun at Limbaugh but when someone pokes fun at one of the drug or booze addled Dems you defend that person. But go ahead and poke fun. I am sure Limbaugh gives a rat’s a$$ what you think.
I understand how you are upset. You have people like Keith Olbermann and Jeremiah Wright as the voice of your movement…
BTW, Kerry is now going to pay the taxes. You can cry all you want but he felt the heat and finally caved.
Here he goes again- so, in your mind, Adam- Rush (I am guessing you are talking about him) is still “drug addicted”- even though we do not know this, only that he went through rehab?
By your standards, we now have the first black, crack-head president, because he used to do coke and smoke pot- so he is a druggie also. I think in order to get in the same room as the “football”, he should submit a daily drug test, because some of the things he has said and done defy rationality.