Posted on 04/28/2008 9:29:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Wesley Snipes had only been convicted of misdemeanors concerning his failure to file income tax returns.
And the action movie star had submitted written character testimonials from Denzel Washington, Woody Harrelson, and television's Judge Joe Brown to assist him in the judge’s consideration of his sentencing.
Through his attorneys, Snipes asked for probation rather than prison, which is the normal sentence with a conviction of someone without a criminal history. Still, in spite of it all, U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges sentenced Snipes to three years in prison.
Why did this happen?
Well, in February 2008, a federal jury acquitted Snipes of felony tax fraud and conspiracy (which could have placed him in the slammer for more than a decade) but convicted the actor on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.
Snipes’ two co-defendants, a defrocked accountant and a tax protest leader, were convicted on the felony counts and may go to jail for 10 years.
Because Snipes is a celebrity, his case has received an enormous amount of publicity. In defense of his actions, he essentially asserted tax protest arguments that have consistently been brushed aside by the courts.
Unfortunately, unscrupulous people sell books, tapes and the like, which end up convincing some people that they don’t have to pay income tax.
Snipes claimed that the tax code did not mandate payment of income taxes by citizens who earned the money in this country. He additionally claimed that the IRS is not a legitimate government entity and therefore had no legal authority to collect taxes.
Jurors found that the actor failed to file for three years.
In the sentencing memo filed by his lawyer, Snipes also asserted that he didn’t have to file returns because he “was a 'stateless person' or 'nonresident alien.'”
The prosecutors’ sentencing memo stated that Snipes' policy was “to send checks received at his business office for deposit offshore.”
In addition, the memo stated that the actor paid approximately “$498,000 in personal payments to Snipes' grandmother, his former wife, his then-fiancee, his personal lawyer, a tax defier organization, and M&S Finance, the Swiss alter-ego to which he fraudulently conveyed his business holdings in 1999,” and that the amount of unreported gross income for the three-year period was “$13 million.”
Snipes exhibited a “history of contempt over a period of time” for U.S. tax laws, the judge said.
You can bet Judge Hodges knew full well that lots of people who maintain similar beliefs to Snipes and his co-defendants were watching the case and would be encouraged not to file and not to pay if Snipes hadn’t been given the max.
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James Hirsen is a media analyst, Trinity Law School professor, and teacher of mass media law at Biola University.
The message from the courts is clear, when it comes to taxes there is no reasonable argument, there is no mercy and there is no questioning the IRS. America fell by the wayside somehow...God Bless Wesley Snipes for being a good American standing up for what he believed in and trying to restore liberty. His defiance is heroic on an epic level. He has everything to lose and he chose to risk it for freedom’s sake.
I agree. He did flaunt the laws, and for a period of time. His claims of stateless person and non-resident alien didn’t help any IMO. How can you be that rich, and refuse to pay taxes? I agree that the government is a money grubbing entity, but you can’t just flip the bird in it’s directon and expect to be left alone.
Snipes’ celebrity didn’t help. I do think this is somewhat of an example. But then he had enough money to get better tax advise than just about anyone else.
LOL! Everyone working in the courts is on the government payroll and make a good living off peoples taxes.
Of course the courts and the government are going to "brush aside" tax arguments.
Other people [tax cheats] watching. Like Willie ‘No Jail’ Nelson?
The government get’s it’s pound of flesh. AND NOT AN OUNCE MORE.
Wesley Snipes has an interesting defense to his federal tax charges -- none!
As is readily discernible from the above, neither Snipes nor his attorneys even attempted anything like "reasonable argument."
Prison for life?
Really?
For not paying taxes for three years?
Good grief.
Why should we tolerate stealing because it is the law.
If the law said you could not own guns how many would obey?
This country went to war with England about “The Law”
The law will be obeyed when it is just.
Remember - Against The Law to Sell Alcohol.
Is Snipes really a liberal? I’ve seen him at gun shows - not generally known as liberal feeding grounds...
Are you kidding? By then, with food, fuel and all prices skyrocketing, few will have any money left for gas, let alone taxes. Maybe the government will be open to taking peoples used furniture, in lieu of taxes.
Eric Blair 2084, do you have a source re: Snipes’s liberal activism?
I have never heard that before.
Thanks.
Its time for people to resist the income tax
“Amen”
Snipes won’t serve 6 months.
Is Snipes really a liberal? I’ve seen him at gun shows - not generally known as liberal feeding grounds...”
He’s a Hollywood liberal who can get a CCW in California.
Also, thugs like guns.
He should be applauded? He broke the law. You and I pay taxes; he should. Oh, maybe you don’t.
the tax code may be a joke, but failing to file is no joke.
snipes got lucky, leona helmsley got 4 years for inflating her deductions, a far less serious offense (one that is committed by many more people).
EVERYONE KNOWS you have to file a tax return. Even people with IQ80.
I’m glad to see him doing time at club fed, it will make his fellow hollywood types think twice about following the same path. He can pick up trash behind Richard Hatch.
This guy was averaging 10 to 15 million a movie at one point, but somehow he’s now claiming he’s broke and can’t pay his taxes?
What a joke.
You trying to cook up a li'l prison romance, here, or what...? ;)
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