Wesley Snipes has been in the news for tax evasion more than his films lately, and currently is awaiting appeal to the last decision. But the courts have decided that the money they spent to bring him to justice should be added to Snipes’ tab.
According to court documents, U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges ruled last week the action film star must reimburse the government about $217,000. Snipes, star of the “Blade” trilogy and “White Men Can’t Jump” among other movies, had objected to the cost.
For the love of God man. That’s chump change compared to the amount of money he makes. Be a REAL celebrity and just throw money at the problem.
Don’t object. Just pay them a pile of money and they will leave you alone!!
Snipes faces a Three Year prison Sentence for willfully failing to file his taxes. Its a little more complicated than “I just forgot”. While waiting for his appeal Snipes is allowed to finish filming, but anticipating the posibility of a three year Club Fed sentence (which is about 90days for celbrities) I doubt that studios will be quick to sign him on to a project.
Doug has followed this man’s plight with the devotion that borders on religious, so he might have different feelings on this.
Jon, you pay taxes for yourself. This keeps the government functioning. You pay according to what you make. Some rules are in place where you can take deductions based on conditions – he got those too.
You are not paying someone else’s taxes. You pay yours.
Snipes has also made 100 times what other people will make in a lifetime. It isn’t HOW MUCH tax he is paying. Have a problem with that, call your congressman.
But he knew the rules when he became an adult. This isn’t sudden news to him. The bill was sent years ago and he dodged it.
Why should he suddenly be exempt because you disagree with the system?
He pays taxes, most people dont. Everyone receives services from the govt. Therefore some peopel are paying taxes for other people. This is of course if you beleive that everyone should be paying something for the benefits they get from being a citizen. Thats what I think.
Furthermore he doesnt even pay more because he earns more. We have a progressive tax rate. THis doesnt mean you pay twice as much if you earn twice as much. Instead if you make twice as much you pay three times as much. Snipes has paid more in taxes than most people make in their entire life time. Thats wrong.
Wealth is owned by the individual, not the govt. We agree to give a small portion of that to the govt to provide limited services. Thats the social contract that was at the base of the constitution. Instead we have a govt which now collects 25% of the entire wealth of the country primarily from 10% of the people and then gives most of it to the 60% of people who pay no tax.
Paying everyone elses taxes?
Its a percentage. Based entirely on how much you earn. How is he paying “someone else’s” taxes? That’s bullshit. He is paying taxes based on his OWN income, and no one else’s.
Then you presume that Snipes is in the right for “sticking it to the man”. He is a willing american citizen, so he has to pay taxes. Just like everyone else.
Actually only 60% of wage earners pay taxes. The rest have so many kids (and thus earned income credit) they have no tax liability. This is why Snipes has to pay twice as much as everyone else. Personally I think its unfair that simply because you are rich you have to pay everyone elses taxes in addition to your own. Snipes basically has to work twice as hard to end up with the wealth that he wants, because the govt takes the rest. I salute him for sticking it to the Man. We should all refuse to pay taxes until the govt stops abusing us.
im sorry but everyones gotta pay taxes wether youre famous or not…i know NOTHING about whats going on with him but..if hes rich why didnt he just pay? i dont feel bad for him i mean- he wasnt fucking paying his taxes! EVERYONE pays taxes! especially wesley snipes!
anywho- he better just pay up (or whatever) so they can let him go NOW so that they can start on blade reboot!
of course i bet its not that simple…
Celebrities need legal integrity? Since when??
You guys, all I can say is that celebrities seem to feel they are above the law in many ways. They can get away with driving drunk and such. They have the money. They have so much money its more money than you guys and I will ever make in our lives. They can throw money at any problem unless they’re Michael Jackson and have run out to the point of selling Neverland ranch which I haven’t heard about in a long time. Wesley Snipes had better pay up but if his idea of saving money is not paying, he has no credibility or integrity left.
Boba Fett’s into real estate, what happend there ????
Yeah I feel bad for the guy, he’s in a deep hole of shit at the moment.
PadThai, I think all of the ppl in this website will disagree with you, almost everything you said…
He makes a great movie, and even if the movie suck, he makes it good by acting such a great character…
I’m not trying to start trouble. But…
Actors don’t make as much as you might think. Especially Wesley Snipes. These guys have agents, and management who get their take off the top. Also, he reportedly made 13M for Blade III, the federal tax rate on 13M is near 40%. He may have had to pay Canadian taxes on that, since it was filmed in Vancouver. Also, he owes over 20M in back taxes to the IRS! Like Joe Louis, I doubt he’ll ever be able to pay that completely off.
He’s also been suing a lot of people he’s worked with, and attorneys aren’t cheap either!
Most people who evade taxes are already having monetary difficulties which leads them to evade taxes in the first place.
I once sold a house to a MLB player who was making about 1.4M/yr for the Blue Jays. When I first met him, I wondered why he was only looking at homes in a middle upper price range and not the top. He explained all about taxes and fees, although he also explained a bit about endorsements.
Most actors don’t have endorsements.
Lastly, it’s not like Mr Snipes is getting huge Hollywood offers either, he’s been notoriously hard to deal with
throw Snipes into prison!
for
1. tax invasion
2. making all those god awful movies for DVD
seriously, he’s stuck in the DTV world.
I’m glad he gets some sort of punishment. celebrities need to know that they are not immune to breaking the law.
@ Moviereign
I agree, driving drunk vs. tax evasion. yeah he may owe alot o money, but tax evasion can’t kill someone, driving drunk can.
I’m with Doug.. lay off the guy. People evade tax responsibilities everyday.. if they want to make an example out of celebs. I mean lets face it. Paris hilton is driving drunk, Shia is driving drunk, Lindsay Lohan…. etc.. countless actors in hollywood are breaking rules.. and much worse ones that tax evasion.. just bill the guy. Why three years when these other people get a month. Anybody in agreement or nigh?
Well he should pay, but he’s right to hold off until all the appeals are done etc. otherwise its kind of like admitting guilt in my book.
One thing that does bug me is that tax evasion (If it was him and not the accounting firm), gets you 3 years (If he goes down), but celebs driving around drunk / high out of your head and risking peoples lives gets you what a month at most, maybe a day or for most of them a slap on the wrist.
I know paying is the law and if you owe it you should pay (and be made to pay), but somehow the punishment’s seem the wrong way round.
Pay them make Blade 4 and call it a day.