Mass. Sen. Kerry docks family’s new $7M yacht in Rhode Island, saving $500,000 in taxes

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Mass. Sen. Kerry docks yacht in RI, saving $500K

BOSTON — 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 boat 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.

Instead, Rhode Island has repealed those taxes.

A Kerry spokesman says the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not for tax reasons, but “for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes.”