Top 5 Celebrity Tax Debts

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Celebrities are in the public eye all the time. They even have a devoted group of people who try to take photos of them in compromising positions just to prove they're not perfect and bulletproof. There's also another eye that these people are scrutinized under: Uncle Sam's. These are the top five highest tax debts I could find that are celebrities.

5.Marc Anthony

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I don't know which thing Marc Anthony is more famous for: being a top-selling international salsa artist, or being the ex-husband of Jennifer Lopez for a second time. Regardless, he owed a staggering total of $5.9 million dollars. This was not all one lump sum, but was compiled from a $1.8 million dollar bill held against his home in N.Y. From the state, a separate bill from the Internal Revenue Service for the same property at $1.6 million, and finally the $2.5 million he owed 5 years ago for back taxes from not filing income tax returns.

4.Nas

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The multi-platinum artist who's most successful album Illmatic is ranked 129 in the overall greatest album chart can also rank high in owing unpaid taxes. The artist owes $6 million and because he was unable to pay the debt, the IRS garnishes his wages. Every album that you buy of his now will go towards that debt. That would really lower my drive to put out new music, but how else do you pay it off? It would take a long time for sure working at a fast food restaurant.

3.Nicolas Cage

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Regardless of if you think Nicolas Cage is a good actor or not, his numbers do not lie. He has grossed over $2 billion dollars from his movies. That much money I would say is worth Sorcerer's Apprentice and Ghost Rider and every other bad movie he's done, since even those are still successful. He should have paid his taxes though, unfortunately. His debt with the I.R.S. from not paying his taxes became a ginormous $13 million dollars. This was paid back by auctioning “a few” of his homes. I'm sure he's not that worried, since he had about 15 before some were auctioned off. I sure wish I could say, “Ohh, I owe $13 million dollars in taxes? Here, just auction off a few of my homes, and keep the change...”

2.Willie Nelson

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This country singer who has written more than 2,500 songs and released close to 300 albums. That's quite a lengthy resume, and when his 1990 tax troubles were brought out into light, they shined to the tune of $16.7 million dollars! He allegedly settled for $6 million but never paid the amount. This caused all his possessions to be put into auctions. He later sued Price Waterhouse, claiming that they put his tax money in illegal tax shelters. This lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. One possession he hid until his tax debt was settled in 1993 was his signature-covered original Martin N-20 Classical Guitar which he named Trigger. 

1.Wesley Snipes

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Wesley Snipes, as of December 9, 2010, the vampire hunter, Blade, will be serving 3 years in the McKean Federal Correctional Instition. His charge was failure to file federal income taxes for 3 years. The reason I see him as the one paying the biggest debt is not because of the amount he owes the government(which through my research I have found that no one really knows but Uncle Sam.) I have chosen him because he is serving time. No amount of money can compensate for time, because even though money can be earned and collected again, time is never refunded. It is a grim reminder that the ever-ticking clock is the worst punishment anyone can be dealt, because all the money in the world will never give this man his 3 years back with his family, friends and career. I wish the best for Mr. Snipes and his family.

All these people have been dealt a blow by the I.R.S. and our government. Their fame didn't save them, and they had to pay like normal citizens. Never forget that we should pay our taxes, no matter how much it pains us, even though it may not seem fair or just to us. Be sure to make certain your taxes are taken care of and in good hands, because when it comes down to it, you'll have to answer for your own tax debt.

When you file your online tax return, make sure it is with a reputable company, like Onlinetaxpros.com. We make it easy to file taxes online and look forward to helping you e-file your income taxes! Leave a comment if you know of any other celebrities with bigger tax debts or just want to give your opinion. Thanks for reading!

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Nava Lubelski: Art Made From Taxes

1999 Tax file - Close up Detail

Being an artist, I always love seeing people breathing new life into old or discarded things that would otherwise be cast aside or thrown away. This artist I'm posting about today is very innovative in that I've never heard of anyone using old tax returns for art! Her organic sculptures are very cellular and abstract, but powerful in their message of using old paper to create a new amalgamation of an almost living, growing entity. These images inspire a me to think of how we're all putting our money into taxes which builds this creation of otherwise wasted cellulose.

Read more about Nava Lubelski or just scroll down to the bottom to see what all the hub-bub is about, and if you like these you should check out her other works on her website, http://www.navalubelski.com/.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nava_Lubelski:

Background:
Nava Lubelski was born and grew up in the SoHo section of New York City. She graduated from Hunter College High School in Manhattan in 1986 and earned a BA in Russian Literature and History from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT in 1990. She spent a year abroad as a student in Moscow, Russia.
Lubelski authored The Starving Artist's Way[2][3] and is a 2008 grantee of The Pollock Krasner Foundation.[4]

Nava Lubelski is an artist who was born in 1968 who creates these cellular sculptures using tightly rolled paper scrolls comprised of tax returns, rejection letters, and other collected waste paper.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work explores the contradictions between the impulse to destroy and the compulsion to mend. I juxtapose rapid acts of destruction, such as spilling and cutting, with painstaking, restorative labor. Embroideries are hand-stitched over stains and rips, contrasting the accidental with the meticulous, constructing narrative from randomness and mistake. The initial marks are found on linens or are created by cutting and staining canvas. The work scrambles expressions of aggression with masochistic patience and sublimation and plays with the feminine through the graphic form of the "stain" and the adding of peek-a-boo, lace inlays to repair cut holes that expose the hidden space behind the canvas. Shadows on the wall add a sculptural dimension and some pieces are hung off the wall to reveal the secret and unintended marks of the verso.
Shredded paper sculptures, such as the Tax Files, reconfigure a mass of paper that has been grouped and saved due to written content, into slabs reminiscent of tree cross-sections where the climate of a given year, and the tree's overall age are visible in a single slice. Historical information is revealed in the colors of deposit slips, pay stubs, receipts and tax forms. The cellular coils spiral outward, mimicking biological growth, as they are glued together into flat rounds, which suggest lichen, doilies or disease. The re-use of paper, as well as the attempted "repair" of the long-lost original tree, is an examination of feelings of despair about waste and unsustainability while simultaneously responding to the shadow impulse to hoard and keep what is no longer needed. The exercise of translating numbers back into a comprehensible, physical manifestation is also an attempt to develop a tool for managing overwhelmingly large tallies, such as those we encounter regularly in reports on war or climate change.
Other sculptural works, such as [a cast of my left hand in the shape of a] Glove, use thread to cast the form of my left hand through the efforts of the free hand. The pieces play with the obstacle of sewing with literally, "one hand tied" and allow improvisational stitching and the results of awkwardness and inconvenience to cast the body part. The finished pieces are struggling and imperfect versions of traditionally hyper-perfect Victorian lace gloves. The pieces maintain the delicate, yet clumsy shapes of ghost hands, at once appearing as flawed and decaying relics, while in fact being molded from the physical hand, a method normally used to create a more substantial and permanent copy than the original flesh.

© 2004-2011 Nava Lubelski, All Rights Reserved.

1997 Tax File, 1/4" x 20" x 19", shredded paper and glue, 2007

1998 Tax File, 1/4" x 19" x 19", shredded paper and glue, 2007

1999 Tax File, 1/4" x 22" x 22", shredded paper and glue, 2007

Rejection Letters , 1" x 20" x 20", cut and shredded rejection letters, glue, 2008

© 2004-2011 Nava Lubelski, All Rights Reserved.

 Thank you guys for taking the time to look at this gifted artist's creations! We hope it inspires you to make something or do something no one else has before! You never know what you're capable of doing until you do it!

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