John Kerry bails on taxing questions
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 -
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ShareSen. John Kerry, hounded by questions over whether he is dodging state and local taxes on his ultra-luxe $7 million sailing yacht, yesterday slammed his car door on a pack of reporters demanding to know if he would pony up to the cash-strapped commonwealth.
"Can I get out of here, please," the harried senior senator said before sailing off into the sunset after an event at the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station .
Kerry continued to insist that he and his wife, ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz, would pay whatever taxes they owe on his new New Zealand-built Friendship sloop Isabel, but wouldn't specifically address whether he'd cough up some $500,000 in state use and local excise taxes.
"Let's get this very straight, I've said consistently we will pay our taxes, we've always paid our taxes, it's not an issue. Period," a clearly perturbed Kerry declared.
But GOP candidate for state treasurer Karyn Polito yesterday wrote to Gov. Deval Patrick to request a Department of Revenue investigatation into whether Kerry owes any dough to the commonwealth.
"Senator Kerry should not be allowed to exempt himself from paying taxes in Massachusetts by moving high-value property he owns out-of-state," she wrote. "Massachusetts is in the midst of a financial crisis where deep cuts in services have become commonplace. The nearly half-million dollars that Senator Kerry potentially owes the Commonwealth can be used to restore cuts to worthwhile programs that provide healthcare, shelter and clothing to the poor."
The Track broke the story of the summer last week when we reported that the former White House wannabe had purchased a spankin'-new 76-foot luxury yacht in New Zealand and registered it in Rhode Island, thus dodging Massachusetts' 6.25 percent sales tax and depriving the senator's summer home, Nantucket, of some $70,000 a year in excise taxes.
The Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state a haven - like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau - for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners.
However, according to state law, if Kerry brings the boat into Massachusetts waters in the first six months of owning it, there is a "presumption of use" and he would have to pony up some $437,500 to the state.
When asked yesterday whether he had brought the Isabel into Massachusetts, Kerry replied, "It depends on who owns it."
Kerry declined to elaborate and a spokesman didn't respond to our query, leaving us to wonder whether the senator is looking for another legal loophole to sail through.
Maritime law expert Brian Flanagan, who teaches admiralty law at Suffolk University Law School, said it is possible Kerry may have taken possession of the custom-built craft more than six months ago, even though he registered it with the Coast Guard on March 12. Another source suggested that Kerry has not yet paid in full for his new high-seas plaything.
But even if they didn't beat the six-month deadline, John and Ta-ray-za also could challenge the state's "presumption of use" and present evidence that he did not purchase the vessel for use in the commonwealth, Flanagan said.
"There's a line in the old movie 'The Firm' that the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is a good lawyer," Flanagan said. "What he's saying and what he's doing is absolutely legal. This has been going on for years."
We told you previously that Kerry's boat was spotted on Nantucket, where he and the missus have a summer home, over the July 4 holiday weekend. And Kerry was seen coming ashore off the Isabel in Edgartown a couple of weeks later.WBZ reported yesterday that the yacht has been docked at the Nantucket Boat Basin "numerous times" this summer.
Kerry said yesterday that the boat currently is being worked on in Rhode Island but will return to Massachusetts once the repairs are completed.
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