Wesley Snipes was on Larry King last night and said he was nervous about going to jail if his appeal to the Supreme Court was denied. I think it probably will be, but the thing is that Wesley is only going to jail for three years despite not paying any taxes on $40M he has earned in the past 11 years. I understand corporations do it all the time, but Wesley is Wesley. With all the appeals he has filed and all the money he has spent fighting this thing he could have already served his time. I mean three years of federal prison is about, what 18 months? and then he would have been all finished and on to making movies again.
He says that he is praying he does not go to jail. Perhaps paying instead of praying would have been the right way to go.
I thought that federal time was without parole? Also I don't understand this entire story. It seems to me that you almost have to want the IRS to send you to prison because they are more than willing to work with you to get their money. Why didn't he just make a deal to pay them out over time? Is he just that crazy that he refused to pay them at all under any circumstances?
ReplyDeleteWhy shouldn't you have to pay your taxes too, Mr Snipes? Is it an entitlement issue or is there something I'm missing here?
ReplyDeleteNo sympathy.
ReplyDeleteJust because someone is a celebrity doesn't mean they are intelligent.
ReplyDeleteI caught part of this last night. Very confusing.
ReplyDeleteFirst they (Wesley & his lawyer) said this was all about not submitting a certain form, not not paying taxes. Wesley said he signed the form, but it was never submitted. He also said he showed up in court & handed the prosecutor a money order or cheque for over six million to settle things, which was declined.
Next thing they're talking about Ken Starr (the money manager, not the prosecutor) who's now in jail for misappropriating people's money. Next, Judge Joe Brown shows up to add his two cents, saying this was a racial thing and Wesley was singled out.
Sorry, he's a grown man and should be very aware whether or not his taxes are being paid. It seemed like he was trying to blame others for his mistake.
pay your taxes mannnn...
ReplyDeleteI've made about $.40 over the past 11 years. And I've paid all of my taxes. No sympathy from me.
ReplyDeleteI thought Wesley got duped into joining the group that flys the flag that says no where does it say in the consitution you have to pay taxes.
ReplyDeleteNobody has won a case on this defense. NOBODY.
Snipes became involved in 2000 with a group called American Rights Litigators (ARL); the organization's entire reason for existing is to challenge the IRS's authority to collect taxes. They argue that the domestic earnings of individual Americans do not qualify as income. Snipes' resistance to filing taxes with the IRS did not stop at his pesonal filings -- he also integrated the ARL "teachings" into the accounting methodology of his film production companies and after June 2000 his companies stopped deducting payroll and income taxes from employees' salary checks.
ReplyDeleteThat is, none of this was a mistake or the actions of a tax attorney. Snipes is/was an active tax protester who illegally evaded taxes. And he is damn lucky he's only getting 3 years in this situation. (All of the above information comes from the actual court documents.)
I watched last night too and a caller asked Wesley straight up if he believed in the not having to pay taxes thing - he and his attorney both denied it. There was so much double talk going on it was confused! And when Larry asked Wesley why he didn't speak out earlier if he feels he's being discrimated against by the IRS, Wesley's response was, "My mother told me if I didn't have anything nice to say about someone, not to say anything." ????? Then Judge Joe Brown came on and was talking about undercover ops from Afghanistan who were in the green room to support Welsey????? The whole thig was a mind f*ck!
ReplyDeleteAnother thing, Wesley sure looks a lot less like Blade and a lot more like Orlando Jones.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with mandy & timebob. There was so much double-talk and non-answer answers, that it was almost impossible to follow.
ReplyDeleteAnd without his tinted glasses and sharp clothes, he almost looked like someone else. And way too zen. Was he wasted?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDear Wesley, you've forgotten the first rule of the street: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
ReplyDeleteIf he'd paid his taxes then this would have never happened. We would all love to take a 'tax holiday' but its taxes that make the country work. Just to name a few things it does, it paves our roads and turns on our street lights, builds our schools, and pays our health workers salaries.
I'm not quite sure what argument he's using for these appeals. Tax evasion is a crime against your government (and technically every tax paying citizen of your country), and any crime that victimizes the government, tend to get punished. I think he got off very light. Perhaps every tax payer who filed last year should be given the opportunity to kick him in the nuts, like he's sort of done to all of them.
Tenley - thanks for your post.
ReplyDeleteWesley should be vocalizing those beliefs in every interview. At least that would make some sense. His willingness to lose his freedom, cause a scandal, and piss off every law-abiding American makes zero sense to me. He just comes off like an asshole.I'm assuming if he stopped fighting and paid the money years ago that he could have moved along. I. Don't. Get it.
Judge Joe Brown?? WTH? Who's next, Judge friggin' Judy??
ReplyDeleteSorry Wes, you're gonna pay one way or the other.
Only part I saw last night was where Wesley said he didn't owe any taxes. My husband watched the whole thing and said Wesley was innocent and that they brought the $6 mil check and it was turned down. If he didn't owe any taxes why would he bring $6 mil? If he just didn't file the forms, then how does he know he paid enough taxes. No way the federal gov't would send a big celeb like him to prison if they didn't have the good on him. How much does Nicholas Cage owe? You don't see them hauling him off to prison.
ReplyDeletewhen i was 19 and first married to the asshole, his family dragged me to one of those meetings. this idiot led the entire meeting misquoting history (i knew my american history back, forth and inside out at the time),
ReplyDeleteand one of their things was that the paper dollar was not the currency the founding fathers were refering to at the time, and this dude only used gold coins (yeah, right) and other such garbage. they pulled you in with a "free" smorgasborg and then locked the doors so you couldn't even get refills.
i kept pointing out his faulting logic and historical points and was told to shut up (by the asshole). when i refused to sign the pledge, he threatened me,
and sure 'nuff, left me in the parking lot, about 10:00 at night. nothing else around open for me to get to a pay phone. a friend did stay with me, was going to take me to my parents (he agreed with me) but he decided it would just make him madder.
eventually he came back for me (damn).
this is the mind set of these people, though. they are NOT very bright, and are just sheep. and i think part of the "pledge" says something about the group backing you up, but you don't turn the group in. huh? this was back in '79, and i'll bet it hasn't changed much.
That's super interesting bb, I had never heard of this group until today!!
ReplyDeleteI think Snipes bragged about this on Howard Stern's show a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWesley Snipes in prison while Bush and Cheney roam free? American Justice in 2010.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, MadLyb.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of that group either!? It's really hard to NOT make fun of people that fall for that type of thing.
ReplyDeleteHard to have sympathy for someone with that much money. I don't like paying taxes either. It really burns my bacon, but I do it b/c I don't wanna go to prison!