Wesley Snipes Busted For Tax Evasion
Well, I didn’t see this one coming. I thought, like so many celebs, he’d get a slap on the wrist, but actor Wesley Snipes is facing three years in the pokey for tax evasion despite many famous friends attempting to intervene on his behalf:
The Blade star, 45, was sentenced Thursday to three years behind bars as his punishment for failing to file his tax returns, U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges announced in an Ocala, Fla., courtroom.
The actor sat stone-faced – and some people in the courtroom gasped – when the sentence was read. “I’m very sorry for my mistakes and errors. I apologize to my family, the court and the community,” Snipes said as his wife looked on. “I’ve asked the court to show me mercy and the opportunity to make things right.”
In February, a federal jury convicted Snipes of three counts of failing to file a tax return (from 1999 through 2001). Thursday he received 12 months for each count. Prosecutors say the actor owes a total of $41 million in taxes, of which he paid $5 at the sentencing. [...]
In February, Snipes, an Orlando native, was acquitted on the more serious charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and filing a false claim for a $7 million refund – both felonies – as well as three similar counts of failure to file returns for the years 2002, 2003 and 2004.
The prosecution, seeking to make an example of Snipes, had requested the maximum: three years in prison and a fine of at least $5 million. [...]
The defense, on the other hand, sought probation rather than prison time. “Wesley Snipes is not a dangerous man who needs to be imprisoned to protect the public,” Snipes’ attorney said in his sentencing memo.
“He is contrite, promises that he will never again break the law, and respectfully asks the court to consider not just the jury verdict but also all the good that he has done in his life.”
Oh man, don’t screw with the IRS. They will castrate you, d00d.
I have to agree, though, that they seem to be wanting to make an example of Wesley. I mean, while the charges are serious, and he should absolutely be made to pay what he owes, three years in prison seems to be a little much. In this day and age when we have drug dealers and rapists being freed early because of overcrowding in our jails, do we really want to stick a guy in there for three years because of something like this?
I mean, come on. Richie Sambora drives drunk with two underage children in his vehicle, and all he got was three years’ probation, three months of classes, and made to pay some fines.
However, Wesley did seem to bring some of this on himself, with his theories on taxes and why he should be exempt from having to pay them like any other wage-earning American:
Mr. Snipes had become an unlikely public face for the tax-denier movement, whose members maintain that Americans are not obligated to pay income taxes and that the government extracts taxes from its citizens illegally. [...]
Tax deniers assert variously that the tax laws are valid but do not apply to them, that no law makes anyone liable for taxes and that the government tricks people into paying. Promoters of tax denial claim that people can legally stop paying income taxes by executing certain documents, or by not signing others, such as tax returns. Courts have rejected all of these arguments. [...]
In closing arguments [in January], lawyers for Mr. Snipes sought to portray him as a well-intended victim of bad advice by his co-defendants. They called his tax theories “kooky,†“crazy†and “dead wrong,†but said acting on these views did not make him a criminal because he disclosed his actions. The defense also objected to his being tried by an all-white jury of seven women and five men.
The Supreme Court has ruled that tax deniers can demonstrate the absence of criminal intent by asserting that they “sincerely believe†that they are not required to pay taxes, although they cannot escape the levies.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Snipes showed criminal intent when he sent the government three bogus checks to pay $14 million in taxes and an amended tax return that was subtly altered with software to state that he filed under “no†penalty of perjury.
Defense lawyers said Mr. Snipes did not file tax returns after his indictment because the I.R.S., by making him the target of a criminal investigation, “forced†him to exercise his right to remain silent.
After his indictment, however, Mr. Snipes sent the government a series of rambling letters describing his tax theories and warning that “pursuit of such a high-profile target will open the door to your increased collateral risk.†[...]
In one 600-page document, Mr. Snipes said he was legally a “nontaxpayer†and the tax laws did not apply to him because he was not a resident of the District of Columbia, was not a federal official and was not engaged in any trade or business, all common tax denier arguments.
Mr. Snipes also complained that the I.R.S. violated his 14th Amendment rights to equal protection because it would not help him establish what he said was his rightful status as a legal nontaxpayer. [...]
Mr. Snipes joined the tax denier movement after becoming upset when told that his 1999 income tax would be more than $2 million, Carmen Baker, his former assistant, testified.
So while I believe three years is a bit much, at the same time I have to say that he should get some time in jail. After all, I don’t like paying taxes either, but I have to do it, just like millions of other Americans have to do it. We recognize that whether we agree with it or not, it is the law, and if we attempt to ignore or break that law then we will be punished.
Therefore, if you haven’t already filed your taxes…
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This is ridiculous! Remeber what the IRS did to Joe Lewis? If not google it, you will be furious!
Comment by JMBoucher — April 25, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
Richie Sambora, Parisite, Brit, and Lilo, oh wait, and Mischtake all drive under the influence and escape real jail time. I think putting other people in jeopardy warrants tougher sentences than tax evasion. Shit, make Snipes pay but suspend sentence.
Gotta wonder where some judges’ heads are at.
Comment by Joanie — April 25, 2008 @ 12:17 pm
send him to prison show the world that movie stars are humans just like the rest of us and that they are no more special than joe blow down the block.
we need to make sure actors know their place….
lets start with tom cruise.
Comment by Lord Ceptimos — April 25, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
How exactly do tax deniers propose to have the life we have in America if we don’t pay taxes? There are scads of services that all communities, counties, states benefit from because of federal taxes. I would like to know what tax deniers propose instead of taxes?? I don’t make millions, yet I manage to pay taxes every year. I can’t really shed too many tears for Mr. Snipes
Comment by mel — April 25, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
I agree that drunken driving has worse potential consequences than tax evasion, but it’s also not a crime that typically involves a lot of premeditation. If it’s right to punish someone for not realizing, one evening, that they are in a state too impaired to safely drive, then how deeply should we punish someone for not realizing over a period of several years that individual citizens don’t get to devise their own private interpretations of the laws that everyone lives under?
If Paris Hilton said to the court “Yes, I willingly went out and drove knowing that my blood-alcohol was over the legal limit because I believe I know better than the lawmakers what the legal limit should be” and pressed this line of argument for several years, then I believe you would see her doing several years of jail time.
Comment by AF — April 25, 2008 @ 9:49 pm
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