Yacht Sales Skyrocket Even As Economy Sinks

Forget all the talk about mortgage foreclosures and a looming recession. Instead, close your eyes and imaging yourself on a boat sailing the Caribbean. Not just any boat, but a megayacht that is two to three times the size of your house.

On board is every luxury you could ever imagine. You can lounge in a Jacuzzi on the top deck while you or your crew barbecue. Prefer something less casual? No problem, a deck or two down is your formal dinning room with a table that seats 12.

Your master suite is large enough to accommodate a king-size bed, walk-in closet and of course your own private bathroom with another Jacuzzi. Fine marble and woodworking adorn every corner of the yacht.

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In other good news for yachts, the Los Angeles Times reports:

Yacht buyers will continue to benefit from a loophole that allows them to avoid sales tax on their boats, after Republicans in the Assembly blocked an effort to close it Tuesday. The vote came hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked state agencies to consider freezing hiring for nonessential workers and to make reductions in their travel and public outreach budgets to save $100 million.

Closing the tax loophole -- "sloophole," as it has come to be known by Democrats -- takes a two-thirds majority vote in each house of the Legislature, which requires some Republicans to get on board.

Comments

[BlackbirdHighway]

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_are_americas_rich

[eliandbo]

Buy a new car and the sales tax is about $15,00 in Missouri.
The rich , like Tiger Woods, bought a yacht for $20 million and paid no sales tax.
It was bought by a company in the Cayman Islands in a file cabinet in his name.
Then the yacht is loaned to Tiger. No taxes, because a foreign country pays no sales tax in this country.
It's good to be rich!

[eliandbo]

A lot of voters are becoming independents, so lets do something different, vote for an independent, vote for Nader!
Lets not say he can't win, lets start a movemewnt, tell your friends to wake up.
We keep putting the same parties into office to screw us, just look at where this nation is headed!Bill Clinton ,a Democrat pushed a Republican trade treaty, NAFTA, down our throughts and put millions out of good paying middle class jobs.
Vote for Nader!

[Skepticat]

But if the rich had to pay sales taxes on $30 million dollar yachts it could cripple the offshore Italian yacht industry creating unemployment for dozens. There could be a wave of migrants (perhaps 70 or more)to the rust belt to compete for vanishing auto jobs against (gasp!) union labor. The horror - the horror.
As F Scott Fitgerald said - "The rich are not like you and I - they have more money".
If the rich were taxed on essentials like yachts they would have less money - and be less unlike those icky ordinary common people who have to juggle car payments, heating costs and other taxable stuff. How awful.

[WilliePilgrim]

It's hard for me to read about this increase in yacht sales without thinking that the wealthy must find a foating palace a very nice way to dodge the shitstorm that would happen if, for any reason, the current social structure breaks down. I know I would if I could. It's not likely you'll see hungry bands of angry citizens eager to "eat the rich" when you're out at sea.

[Justinpassing]

BINGO!

[avraamjack]

GET A REAL BOAT YOU POSEURS !!!!!!!!
http://www.geocities.com/navigatorspell/qm6.jpg
.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

Tell me this doesn't coincide with "The One Percent" that Jamie Johnson wrote about.

It is their hayday right now... buy up as much as you can cause the economy is crashing hard.... and they are... while the working class couldn't get a mortgage or a business loan if they signed away their first born.

[yappnmutt]

c'mon guys, a little empathy for the wealthy. i've been told they pay way more than their share of taxes and you want them to pay more? didn't you hear your president tell you that rich people spending money is the reason the rest of us have jobs.

[eliandbo]

Bush and Ron Regan gave the rich all kind of tax breaks, and they invest in Imports from Mexico and Communist China and you believe they invest here.
You are fools if you believe the politicians.
Well you must be fools for voting twice for Bill Clinton and the monkey

[ashleybaines]

I wonder if the censors at Huffpo only monitor my comments on Israel???

Interesting...

I'm a 60 year old former republican. I understand class envy although I've been a self employed businessperson all my life.

BIG money is corrupt money. Period.

If you have a fortune in this business environment -- you're a crook.

[MilwaukeeDan]

ab, you're correct, they also won't let you be too critical of this government. As a small businessman(2 Employees), I just cringe every time I hear some fat cat walking away from a destroyed business with millions, while we barely stay afloat.

[ohiomark]

The class envy in this thread is about par for the course here on HuffPo. All the losers who can't become rich themselves need this forum to bash those who are successfull.

Liberalism at it's finest.

[totalliberal]

Defending your peers are you little dim-wit Markie?

ROTFLMAO

You couldn't afford the marina fees.

(And we don't like the fact that they aren't paying sales tax on their yachts, as the article says. Don't care how many are sold and to whom. You really are a very dim little person.)

[reactionrynihilist]

why do those who buy yachts need a tax loophole? That is like giving farm subsidies to millionaires who own undeveloped land.

[ohiomark]

The government already takes and wastes billions of our tax dollars every year. I applaud anyone how finds a legal way to not pay.

Having to pay no sales tax means that they have more money to spend elsewhere. Places like your store or your restaurant. It's good for the economy. It's just not good for the politicans who believe that it's their money not yours.

[MajorKong]

So why is a $20,000,000 yacht exempt from sales tax while a $20,000 bass boat isn't? Sounds like reverse class warfare to me.

[calfacon]

Good Question.

[swift goat pet for truth]

It IS Class Warfare, and the rich are winning.

They get everyone else to back down by yelling the phrase, "Class Warfare!"

Man, it just WORKS.

[tea in the harbor]

See "Robber Barons""Guilded Age" and a damned good reason to protest these bastards. I am trying to get people to DO something. On July fourth, I am suggesting that We the People hold a DAY WITHOUT BUSINESS. That we buy nothing for twenty-four hours, a warning to them that they may not be as necessary as they assume themselves to be. All the blogging and whining in the world will accomplish nothing until it results in action. Action forces reaction, which results in change. I watched this in the sixties and seventies, and it worked! Please talk to friends, make up banners or T-shirts, some way of telling the world you're on board. Protest doesn't mean tie-dyed and stoned, it means STAND FOR SOMETHING!! The Government won't be solving this for you, they caused it. Get off your ass, or bend over and take it! Your choice.

[themodernleader]

Those yachts derive from our labor and savings and the sacrifice of our ancestors that have been stolen for the benefit of speculators and powerful. As the yachts filled with traitors to our Republic sail into the glorious sunset, we are left to pick up the pieces of a broken government and bankrupt economy.

[abbiehoffmansghost]

For Sale: old Grumman aluminum canoe, cracked gunnels, homemade plywood seats, no paddles $40.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Take that blanker out and turn it into an artificial reef.

[Tom95134]

The wealthy are buying expensive toys because they recognize that their dollars are going to be worth a lot less "tomorrow". It's no different that what was seen in Germany in the 1930's when people were paid twice a day because the money was devaluing so fast nobody wanted to be holding any cash.

[MajorKong]

So, I have to pay sales tax if I buy a new car, but billionaires don't have to pay sales tax on a luxury yacht. Got it.

[fact finder]

The rich have to have some way to escape to South America when the spit hits the fan. But they can not run faster than a cigarette boat.