John Kerry Bails on Massachusetts Sales Tax: Kerry Takes New Yacht to Rhode Island

Super gazillionaire Teresa Heinz and also extraordinarily wealthy hubby Senator John Kerry have a new yacht which berths in Newport, Rhode Island, not Nantucket, Mass where the couple summers. The craft is fabulously expensive and would have cost the Kerry's a six-figure sales tax hit had they berthed the "Isabel" at their summering spot in Nantucket.

John Kerry's fabulously expensive yacht, The Isabel

If the Kerry's keep the yacht away from Massachusetts for more than six months, they will avoid the state sales tax, AND and annual excise tax estimated at about $70,000.00 - annually:

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.

An ANNUAL excise tax? Oh well, they can afford it (that's the Liberal view when it's a conservative being taxed) but dang! that's unAmerican (that's the conservative viewpoint no matter who is buying).

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.

Harry Reid Exempts Nevada: Senate Finance Committee Exempt Reid's Nevada from Expanded Medicaid

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) knows his senate seat is on the line in 2010 election. His buddies on the Senate Finance Committee, specifically in Max Baucus' proposal, have exempted Nevada from paying their share of the state's new expanded Medicaid costs in the health care reform bill.

Harry Reid

Under that proposal, states will be required to cover all residents living below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or $29,327 for a family of four. And while Washington would pick up most of the tab of that expansion, states will have to pay a percentage (between 5 percent and 23 percent depending on the relative wealth of the state).

The changes came at the expense of other states, including California, Florida and Illinois, which would see significant increases in state Medicaid spending under the new formula.”

 Other "high need states" are also exempted, but those states have not been officially revealed. Apparently, there are parameters that must be met to meet Senate Finance Chair, Max Baucus', criteria: According to this report, Michigan, Oregon and Rhode Island may quality for exemption.

This is "deal making" at its most egregious. My state will be forced to bear its share of the cost. Your state, unless it is one of the Baucus Four, will be forced to bear its share of the cost of expanded Medicaid - with taxpayer money.

States included in the Baucus Four will receive 100 percent of Medicaid government-mandated increased costs from the government - that means you and I pay more.

Rhode Island has a Republican governor who is term-limited in 2010. Perfect seat for yet another Democrat governor with this little help courtesy the U.S. Senate. Oregon and Michigan have Democrat governors, also 2010 term-limited. Each of the Baucus Four states voted Democrat in the 2008  presidential election.

The email address for the Senate Finance Committee is Health_Reform@finance-dem.senate.gov. I have sent my email. (update: the email came back as undeliverable)

The members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee are:

Democrat Members:

MAX BAUCUS, MT   Phone: 202-224-2652
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
BILL NELSON, FL
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ
THOMAS CARPER, DE


Republican Members:
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
JIM BUNNING, KY
MIKE CRAPO, ID
PAT ROBERTS, KS
JOHN ENSIGN, NV
MIKE ENZI, WY
JOHN CORNYN, TX

Hot Air reports that the Committee tried to get the Baucus health care reform bill out of committee and on the floor for a vote before Congressional Budget Office (CBO) could give its assessment of the cost of the mammoth assault on American taxpayers. Read it at Hot Air.