Sen. Kerry: Tax-Dodger?

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) may be in tax trouble for docking his new $7M yacht at his Massachusetts home.

The Friendship yacht [was] designed by Ted Fontaine of Portsmouth but built in New Zealand... Under law, if a boat owner berths the vessel in Massachusetts waters within six months of purchasing the boat, there’s a “presumption of use,” and the owner must fork over the 6.25 percent sales tax to the commonwealth. Local excise taxes also are due.

Sources said Isabel - with its Edwardian-style, glossy varnished teak interior, two VIP main cabins and a pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage - sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million. That means Kerry would owe approximately $437,500 to his cash-strapped home state. Nantucket, his summer playground, would be due annual excise taxes of about $70,000.

IRS 'Equalizes' Taxes For (Some) Gay Couples

Specifically, the agency said nearly 58,000 couples who are registered as domestic partners in California must combine their income and each report half of it on their separate tax returns. Same-sex couples account for an estimated 95% of the state's domestic partnerships; partnership status is also available to heterosexual couples in which one partner is over age 62.

"For the first time ever, I'm able to file federal taxes that, in a small way, acknowledges what's going on in my relationship," said Eric Rey of Berkeley, Calif. Mr. Rey and his partner requested the IRS ruling, first during the Bush administration and again this year.

This is part of the problem with the federal government's increasing encroachment on the individual. It's worth noting that the federal government didn't have anything to do with defining marraige until the income tax became law in 1913 (along with the 17th Amendment). The more the federal government becomes a part of people's lives, the more that federal politicians will sell this or that benefit in exchange for votes.

The less the federal government "acknowledges what's going on in my relationship", the happier I'll be.

The federal government has shown that it cannot properly administer an income tax. The original income tax started as a simple formula, and it has exploded in complexity as the federal government realized that it could create exceptions for a variety of special interests.

Limiting the federal leviathan begins with repealing the 17th Amendment, so that the Senate will once again be incentivized to fulfill its duty of protecting the 9th and 10th Amendments.

$1.4 Trillion Deficit

Nick Gillespie:



Debt and taxes are how the government grows itself. The explosion of government growth after the 17th Amendment was passed demonstrates how the Senate limited it before, and was unable to limit it afterward.

Repeal the 17th Amendment so that the Senate can once again put limits on the federal government. That's the best way to restore sanity to this nation.

Hat tip:Reason TV

The Value-Added Tax

Dan Mitchell, of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, explains everything you need to know about the VAT. Making the tax system more complex allows politicians to hide the true tax burden. We need to keep the tax system simple so that its burden can be more easily measured.

Mob Rule

Nearly half of Americans don't pay income taxes. No wonder Obama calls all tax cuts "tax cuts for the rich". This is the very definition of "mob rule" that the Constitution was designed to prevent. Any system that robs Peter to give to Paul can always count on the support of Paul. Care to speculate what percent of people who don't pay income taxes support more federal spending? How many people who don't pay income taxes want the federal government to provide health insurance?

Restore sanity to the federal government. Support politicians who promise to repeal the 17th Amendment.

Hat tip: Hot Air