Does Sen. Kerry have a 'tax pier' in RI?
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is docking his family's new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, saving roughly $500,000 in Bay State taxes.
The Boston Herald reported Friday the 76-foot, New Zealand-built sloop has two cabins, a pilot house fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage. It is owned by a limited liability corporation in Pittsburgh, the longtime home of Kerry's wife -- philanthropist Teresa Heinz Kerry.
If the "Isabel" were docked at the couple's summer vacation home on Nantucket, they would be liable for $437,500 in one-time sales tax. They'd also have to pay $70,000 in annual excise taxes.
A Kerry spokesman says the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not for tax reasons, but "for longterm maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes."
