Within eight months after the change in the law took effect, Viking Yachts, the largest U.S. yacht manufacturer, laid off 1,140 of its 1,400 employees and closed one of its two manufacturing plants. Before it was all over, Viking Yachts was down to 68 employees. In the first year, one-third of U.S. yacht-building companies stopped production, and according to a report by the congressional Joint Economic Committee, the industry lost 7,600 jobs. When it was over, 25,000 workers had lost their jobs building yachts, and 75,000 more jobs were lost in companies that supplied yacht parts and material. Go To Site

"If you want more of something, subsidize it. If you want less of something, tax it." -Jack Kemp Go To Site

"Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you," Sen. Clinton said. "We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." -Hillary Clinton Go To Site

Repeal Luxury Tax in 1993

Democrat, Liberal, Tax, Incompetence, Economy

Congress told us that the luxury tax on boats, aircraft and jewelry would raise $31 million in revenue a year. Instead, the tax destroyed 330 jobs in jewelry manufacturing and 1,470 in the aircraft industry, in addition to the thousands destroyed in the yacht industry. Those job losses cost the government a total of $24.2 million in unemployment benefits and lost income tax revenues. The net effect of the luxury tax was a loss of $7.6 million in fiscal 1991, which means Congress' projection was off by $38.6 million. The Joint Economic Committee concluded that the value of jobs lost in just the first six months of the luxury tax was $159.6 million. Congress repealed the luxury tax in 1993 after realizing it was a job killer and raised little net revenue.

Luxury-Tax Repeal Encourages Sellers - New York Times

Democrat, Tax, Incompetence, Financial, Oops

Mr. Caruso added that negotiations for the sale had begun earlier in anticipation of the repeal of the 10 percent excise or luxury tax on boats costing more than $110,000 and on other expensive items like jewelry and furs, but not on automobiles. "The customer told me he would have never bought the boat if he had had to pay the luxury tax, which would have added $30,000 more to the purchase price," Mr. Caruso said.

Yacht dealers await repeal of luxury tax Levy has squeezed a hurting industry - Baltimore Sun

Democrat, Tax, Incompetence, Financial

Boat dealers in Maryland and across the nation are hoping that Congress will soon throw them a lifeline by repealing a luxury tax on yachts that has crippled an industry already wracked by the recession.

9,000 Americans out of work

Democrat, Tax, Incompetence, Financial

In fact, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, the trade and lobbying group for the boat builders, says the tax has resulted in the loss of 25,000 jobs. In a 1991 report, the Joint Economic Committee concluded the combined impact of the taxes "is to throw more than 9,000 Americans out of work and to cost the Federal Government nearly $20 million in 1991."

Yacht retailers reported a 77 percent drop in sales

Democrat, Tax, Incompetence, Financial

But it wasn't long before even those die-hard class warriors noticed they'd badly missed their mark. The taxes took in $97 million less in their first year than had been projected — for the simple reason that people were buying a lot fewer of these goods. Boat building, a key industry in Messrs. Mitchell and Kennedy's home states of Maine and Massachusetts, was particularly hard hit. Yacht retailers reported a 77 percent drop in sales that year, while boat builders estimated layoffs at 25,000.