Posted on 08/31/2010 7:19:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
PAUL Hogan has come out fighting against the tax man, declaring he will risk bankruptcy before he pays. Against his lawyer's advice, Hogan spoke for the first time last night - proving he hasn't lost his sense of humour despite being made a virtual prisoner in Australia.
The Aussie larrikin said he didn't owe the Australian Tax Office anything and couldn't afford to pay their bill anyway.
Who do you believe - Hoges or the tax office? Let us know in the comments below.
"I can't pay it, I can't pay 10 per cent of what they are asking for," Hogan said.
"But they don't want 10 per cent. I can't even pay 2 per cent - bugger them.
"I'm not as rich as people think I am."
Describing Tax Office officials as having "no class" and barely human, Hogan said he would not give in to their pressure.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. .End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. "A normal person would be devastated. But I'm not normal, so I'm not devastated," Hogan said on A Current Affair. "I just want two hands to fight."
Hogan said he couldn't disclose the amount he is accused of owing because of tax secrecy laws, but reports estimated it at $95 million.
The Crocodile Dundee star said he was putting up a fight because he knew he was innocent. He never had offshore accounts in tax havens or purposely changed between paying tax in Australia and America to make a profit.
"I don't want people to say let him go because of what he did or because he made me laugh back in the day," he said. "I want people to say let him go because he didn't do anything.
"I'm not Paris Hilton, I'm Hoges. I don't want sympathy and special treatment. Give me the benefit of the doubt. Give me the chance to say this is a witch-hunt, and it's wrong."
The fact he came home willingly and under his own volition also proved he had nothing to hide. "If I was a tax evader, which I am not, I must be the dumbest in the world as I keep coming back here," he said.
"Instead of whipping off to Brazil and renting Ronnie Biggs' house and lying there going ha-ha come and get me, I kept coming back here.
"And I also spent millions fighting them."
Hogan, 70, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife Linda Kozlowski and their son Chance, says it's ridiculous authorities fear he might flee.
"I'm a flight risk? I'm sorry but that's just absurd!" he said. "That is a cretin that's made that move."
Hogan remains grounded in Australia after he was hit with a Departure Prohibition Order two weeks ago banning him from leaving until he pays or reaches a settlement on the estimated bill of about $95 million, including interest and penalties.
He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged.
Maybe he could pull out a knife and things would be better? Good on ya mate.
I guess Income Tax employees come from the same mold, no matter the country.
Didn’t the REAL Crocodile Dundee die in a shootout or something over taxes?
Good luck to him!
a “departure prohibition”?
geez, didn’t know that australia is still a penal colony
Guess Hogan figures that freedom is another word for nothing left to lose - just sign it all over and leave and start over - at age 70
Wow the tax pirates are holding him for ransom.
I’m still rooting for him.
He did die in a shootout with police, but I don't recall anything about taxes. Most of the articles I recall reading seemed to play up the "guns" angle. It's been a few years, though - there may have been some tax issue underneath all that stuff.
Hmmm. That's a lot nicer than I would put it. I wouldn't p1ss on an IRS employee is he/she were on fire. Totalitarians could never commit their atrocities if there wasn't a large number of your "fellow citizens" who are always ready and willing to commit such evil. They do it because their hearts are black with viciousness and cruelty.
I kind of thought once he made it big as Dundee somebody would dredge them up and put them on cable or DVD - but I've never seen them surface. Too bad.
He was also in a movie where he played an angel. I thought it was entertaining.
“He is in effect, a prisoner in his own country.”
I’m seeing a sequel here... Croc Dundee escapes back to the bush and lays a series of cunning traps to get the pursuing revenuers eaten by saltwater crocs or sucked down in quicksand.
I love that show and wish someone would make it available. Loved the Leo Wanker character.
I remember the “Paul Hogan Show”. Enjoyed it because it bore a strong resemblance to Benny Hill.
Good for Hogan.
That’s why the Crocodile movies were as much comedy as anything.
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