Wesley's Money Train

By Gina Telaroli
January 14, 2008
1 comments
He can kill vampires, but apparently not pay his taxes...Wesley Snipes, star of the Blade series, White Men Can't Jump, Jungle Fever and many other films including Money Train, is set to go to trial for tax fraud and conspiracy charges. In the same time period that he made 38 million dollars, Mr. Snipes also decided not to pay his taxes.What's even more interesting is that he is claiming that he never had to:
Mr. Snipes, who is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Ocala, Fla., has become an unlikely public face for the antitax movement, whose members maintain that Americans are not obligated to pay income taxes and that the government extracts taxes from its citizens illegally. His trial has become the most prominent income tax prosecution since the 1989 conviction of the billionaire New York hotelier, Leona Helmsley, who went to prison for improperly billing personal expenses to her business.Tax deniers maintain that the law only appears to require payment of taxes. All their theories have been rejected by the courts, including the one invoked by Mr. Snipes, which is known as the 861 position, after a section of the federal tax code.Adherents say a regulation applying the 861 provision does not list wages as taxable, though it does say that "compensation for services" is taxable. The courts have uniformly rejected all such theories, and eight people have been sentenced to prison after not paying taxes based on the 861 argument. [The New York Times]
While I don't know if I agree with way Mr. Snipes is going about this, I have to say that I was disgusted this year when I did my taxes and realized that all I was really doing was helping to fund an illegitimate war.Want to learn more about the folks working for Tax Reform to see what you think? and see what Americans for Tax Reform have to say and leave your own thoughts below. And watch below for a classic Snipes moment.[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Km4xy4l_NAU[/youtube]

Comments

1
posted on Jan 19, 2008
Try this on for size, being "Blade" must have dulled his senses, because Mr. Snipes ignored the advice of his former tax adviser, Kenneth Starr, when electing not to file tax returns. Somehow I thought Wesley was smarter than what I'm seeing from his trial in Ocala, Florida. In the trial his former tax adviser, Kenneth Starr, head of Starr and Company, testified that he had a 90-minute telephone conversation with Snipes trying to convince him that he had to pay taxes. The Orlando Sentinel reports: "(Snipes) was adamant about the fact that he did not have that obligation," Starr said. "I said that was ridiculous; that everyone has that obligation. He said he had spoken to some people that said he didn't have to." Starr, who regularly represents celebrities, said he and Snipes had a good relationship before the actor stopped believing in taxes. "He said, 'You always think you're right and you always think you know everything. You're not right about this,"' Starr recalled of his pivotal 2000 phone call with Snipes. The next day, Starr sent a letter terminating his tax services with the actor. Snipes' defense said Starr never told the actor in writing it would be illegal to stop paying taxes. Starr said he didn't have to; he told Snipes on the phone and needed nothing further to terminate their tax arrangement. The simple challenge here for proof of guilt or innocence (at least in the mind of the jury) is - did Wesley Snipes know what he was doing when he refused to file and pay his taxes. Looks like, at least from what has been seen thus far, the answer is a resounding - YES! I can understand the possibility of falling prey to bad advice (and Eddie Kahn gives BAD ADVICE) but when you couple that with the advice from your former tax adviser who testified that he advised you not to follow Kahn...well, Wesley - gotta say it doesn't look good for the home team here. Some call it "Club Fed." Let me state from personal experience - it is FED - it is NO CLUB. Prison is not fun and I would wish no one that experience. But, having been there and hence speaking from experience, since every choice has a consequence - it is important to be conscious of the choices we make as each will produce results - bad choices yield negative consequences - good choices yield positive results. I wish the best for Wesley, but would be shocked if he is not convicted of tax fraud.