Wesley Snipes Still in Tax Trouble
by Jeff Davis
Looks like actor Wesley Snipes isn’t going to be allowed to buy himself out of his tax troubles after all. Jeez, what with Paris Hilton being dragged crying her eyes out back to prison, it just doesn’t pay to be a celeb these days. The Drudge Report ran an article recently with the headline: “Wesley Snipes Plays Race Card - Actor claims Selective Prosecution in Felony Tax Avoidance Case.” Notice the use of the polite term “avoidance” instead of “evasion” or “fraud.” An article from TheSmokingGun states: “Facing trial in a bizarre tax avoidance scheme, actor Wesley Snipes claims that prosecutors used race as a factor in deciding to charge him with failure to file six years worth of IRS returns.” For six years this guy didn’t file, and only now they’re catching up to him!! If anything, it seems like they were giving him a break for a few years based on his celebrity status.
Mr. Snipes was earning some seriously big bucks as an A-list movie star. He was easily making millions after taxes, but somehow this wasn’t enough. A long list of Black celebrities including M.C. Hammer and Mike Tyson have managed to squanders millions –if not tens of millions of dollars. It’s entirely possible that Mr. Snipes may have spent all his money AND the millions which the IRS would like to have.
But wait, there’s more: “Snipes, who was hit with six felonies for failing to file between 1999-2004, contends that the half-dozen counts were ‘impermissibly brought on the basis of Mr. Snipes’ race’ and should be ‘dismissed based on selective prosecution.’ Snipes, Rosile, and Kahn have been accused of attempting to defraud the government by claiming that the actor was immune to taxation based on the ‘861 argument.’ That claim, which has long been rejected by IRS officials, refers to a section of the federal tax code. Along with playing the race card, the Snipes motion claims that the celebrity was actually a victim of ‘unscrupulous tax advice,’ not a willing participant in a criminal conspiracy hatched by Rosile and Kahn.” Snipes is mulling a lawsuit against his two codefendants “to recover the losses he suffered as a result of his reliance upon the advice given to him.”
Apparently, these two accountants sold Mr. Snipes a song and dance routine about how he didn’t have to pay taxes due to some obscure loophole and he believed them. What kind of idiot, black or white, would believe some snake oil salesman telling him he didn’t have to file an income tax return for SIX YEARS?
It will be interesting to see if Snipes can get anyone in the court system to buy his race-based defense.