Celebrity news, via the Tax Prof Blog: The Biggest Tax “Cheats” of 2008:
Wesley Snipes
Formerly famous actor. Required to pay $217,363 in prosecuting costs — despite being acquitted.
Joe Francis
Soft-core porn pedlar, alleged rapist. Claimed over $20 million in phony business expenses.
Nicolas Cage
Famous actor, celebrity nephew. Wrongly wrote off $3.3 million in personal expenses, including limos, meals, gifts, travel and his Gulfstream 1159A turbojet. Settled for $666,465.
Helio Castroneves
Brazilian race car driver and “Dancing With The Stars” champion. Indicted for federal tax evasion.
Paul Hogan
Former famous actor, Australian national treasure. Part of major Australian/US tax fraud investigation; accused of owing AU$300 million.
Raffaello Follieri
Italian real estate developer, former Anne Hathaway boyfriend. Accused of various financial crimes involving the Catholic Church.
Melissa Etheridge
Famous singer-songwriter, famous lesbian. Will not pay her state taxes as a sign of civil disobedience.
I place “cheats” in quotes because its not quite clear that Hogan did anything wrong; also, I don’t think Etheridge counts:
Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.
Not that withholding taxes as a form of protest works out very well.
Via Tax Prof Blog.
Snipes was not entirely acquitted. He was convicted of 3 counts of failure to file. He was acquitted of 3 other counts of failure to file, filing a false claim for refund, and conspiracy to defraud the IRS. He was sentenced to three years of prison, which is currently up on appeal.