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Even movie stars must pay taxes
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Location: Blogs Now We're Talking |
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| Posted by: Joe Byrnes |
1/16/2008 8:32 AM |
Forget the claims of the now-defunct American Rights Litigators, there is no secret formula - or spell cast by the filing of magic papers - that will eliminate the federal taxes you'll owe on $38 million of income and produce $11.3 million in refunds.
Wesley Snipes sauntered with his usual poise to the side of the federal courthouse. He still looked like a movie star even after his long day at the defense table listening to the tedious questioning of prospective jurors.
A bunch of fans squealed and shouted "I love you."
The actor - impeccably dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and dark tie and wearing prayer beads around his left wrist - waved and flashed a brilliant smile. He listened to his lawyer declare he was "one day closer to vindication" after the selection of a jury.
Then the star of so many films - including "U.S. Marshals," "Blade," and "White Men Can't Jump" - walked with his entourage into the parking lot. He beamed at fans who crowded around him, snapping photos and begging for autographs.
Standing there with video camera in hand - recording the scene for Ocala.com - I suddenly felt sad. I'd like to be the fan, too, but I was there for another reason. I was there to help document the legal mess Snipes has scripted for himself.
I'd been at the courthouse to watch the proceedings Tuesday. Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges combed patiently through the jury pool, uncovering the surprising fact that 100 percent of those questioned Tuesday did pay attention to local news - when it involved a celebrity - and also turning up some racist attitudes.
Six of 26 prospective jurors - that's nearly one-fourth of those interviewed that day - said they think blacks have a disproportionate tendency to commit crimes. Needless to say, those guys didn't make it on the jury.
During all this, Snipes sat attentively among his five lawyers, sometimes with a wrinkled brow and sometimes with his right hand holding his chiseled face. Behind him, co-defendant Eddie Ray Kahn, with wavy, white hair and gaunt features, read through a tablet of handwritten texts. He had a smug, deluded look about him and turned an occasional sly glance toward the courtroom audience.
He was an odd choice for a tax adviser.
Kahn reminded me of Kris Kristofferson's character in "Blade," the brilliant, white-haired outcast who helped Snipes' character - a half-blooded vampire - defeat the undead.
The movie was crazy stuff - and too gory for my taste - but it was not so crazy as the schemes Kahn allegedly cooked up to help Snipes evade the fiscal vampires of the U.S. government.
Forget the claims of the now-defunct American Rights Litigators, there is no secret formula - or spell cast by the filing of magic papers - that will eliminate the federal taxes you'll owe on $38 million of income and produce $11.3 million in refunds.
Snipes' lawyers will argue that he acted in good faith.
"Wesley Snipes begged, pleaded and prayed for answers from the IRS," his attorney Robert Bernhoft said Monday. "He got no answers. Instead the IRS shredded his documents."
In court filings, the U.S. government indicates Snipes had ample warning - from his own genuine accountants and from the government itself - but continued to avoid paying his taxes.
In this month-long trial, we'll see a lot of Snipes, the actor and the criminal defendant.
Tuesday evening, as he rode away in a silver-rimmed Escalade, he left behind star-struck fans gawking at an autograph on a pink tablet and showing off his pictures on their flip phones.
The families of those same fans - I guarantee you - will have to pay their taxes, even if they didn't earn a few million last year.
Joe Byrnes can be reached at joe@ocala.com or 352-867-4112. |
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