From the "what the hell were they thinking?" file, we have news of a tax break on yachts valued at more than $230,000. This isn't really a tax break for the "one percent", it's a tax break for the merest fraction of the one percent. Seriously, how many "mere millionaires" are going to be purchasing boats that expensive?
Basically, this means that some poor schmo buying, for example, a used Honda Fit will pay a higher percentage sales tax than a plutocrat buying a twenty-billion dollar yacht. Meanwhile, a proposed hike in the mimimum wage has failed. Needless to say, there has been a public outcry, but NY State has a majority Republican legislature and a conservative Democratic Governor.
I don't think I've ever seen so stark an example of a "fuck you" to the working and middle classes in this state. I sure as hell can't think of a more regressive tax structure being implemented. Of course, apologists for the yacht-building industry claim it's a jobs program and will lead to a tax revenue-increase.
I'm sympathetic to the boating industries, having spent much of my childhood in a place with a storied nautical history, but I think this legislation is giving too much away to the yachting type:
Wow, never thought I'd have an excuse to post that video for a terrific-yet-obscure New Wave band and have it be on topic.
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4 comments:
Shipbuilding again.
Actually, a quarter mil doesn't get you much in the way of yachts anymore. A workaday 36' class fiberglass sloop maybe, or a fairly nicely tricked out day cruiser or party boat, but nothing in the 'luxury' category. Boat brokers are like RV guys - they do some pretty creative financing deals so Joe Shmoe can buy them. That fraction of the 1% you mention are doing custom 'super yachts' in the 10 million dollar range...
but NY State has a majority Republican legislature and a conservative Democratic Governor.
Such a sad state of affairs.
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Shipbuilding again.
Wasn't that an XTC album?
That fraction of the 1% you mention are doing custom 'super yachts' in the 10 million dollar range...
And they are doing most of it overseas.
Such a sad state of affairs.
A sad Empire State of affairs.
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