Kerry Dodges Pesky Taxachusetts Taxes on $7 Million Yacht

Figures: Kerry Docks Luxury Yacht in RI to Avoid MA Taxes:

Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I.

Cash-strapped Massachusetts still collects a 6.25 percent sales tax and an annual excise tax on yachts. Sources say Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.

Normally I’m all in favor a tax shopping. It’s just that it’s a bit unseemly for a sitting U.S. Senator to dodge his home state’s taxes, particularly when the honorable Senator never met a tax he didn’t like.

Kerry isn’t saving his tax dollars so he can give them to private charity, either. From the archives:

At a religious convention, WizBang notes “Sen. John Kerry accused President Bush on Thursday of failing the Biblical test set by the Good Samaritan, saying, “He’s seen people in need, but he’s crossed over to the other side of the street.””

WizBang asks: of Kerry and Bush, whose income taxes indicate a higher level of charitable giving over the years, as a percentage of income? Answer: Bush, by a factor of roughly 10 to 1. Kerry didn’t just cross over to the other side of the street. He hopped in Teresa’s Gulfstream and flew to the other side of the Atlantic.