Wow! This Wesley Snipes continues to prove his irrelevence and meaninglessness in the real world with his continued problems with the Internal Revenue Service. Never a big fan of Snipes, I have done my best to ignore him and his I.R.S. problems that pop into the news every now and then but the headline about his threats of "increased collateral risks" to the I.R.S. agents caught my attention.
As a tax collector myself, I have heard similar threats. Bodily harm and mental regret and anguish are promised pretty regularly as well as name-calling and other mainly testosterone-induced harmless chest-pounding and rarely is it cause for real concern. I did have a man threaten to shoot me one time but he cooled off quickly when it was reported and he spent the night in jail. Something about threatening a public servant makes the police frown. Most of the time, though, the threats basically go in one ear and out the other.
Tax problems are embarrassing for people. They do not want people to find out what dead-beats they are and when trouble invariably comes they try to hold on to some semblance of control. Those two reactions can cause problems and it nearly always is worse for the taxpayer. Threats, excuses, crying, and promises will never take the place of responsibility. Forgetfulness and procrastination are disastrously poor excuses, not to mention the ridiculous race card that Snipes threw down! Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pay what you owe and get over it even if you consider yourself to be famous.
So, Wesley, here's my advice, coming from one rebel to another so I know it is difficult: File it, pay it, and get on with it. The only collateral damage is going to come from your bank account and it will just get worse tomorrow. Now if you would spend as much time and energy on your movies as you did avoiding taxes you would probably win an Oscar!
As a tax collector myself, I have heard similar threats. Bodily harm and mental regret and anguish are promised pretty regularly as well as name-calling and other mainly testosterone-induced harmless chest-pounding and rarely is it cause for real concern. I did have a man threaten to shoot me one time but he cooled off quickly when it was reported and he spent the night in jail. Something about threatening a public servant makes the police frown. Most of the time, though, the threats basically go in one ear and out the other.
Tax problems are embarrassing for people. They do not want people to find out what dead-beats they are and when trouble invariably comes they try to hold on to some semblance of control. Those two reactions can cause problems and it nearly always is worse for the taxpayer. Threats, excuses, crying, and promises will never take the place of responsibility. Forgetfulness and procrastination are disastrously poor excuses, not to mention the ridiculous race card that Snipes threw down! Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pay what you owe and get over it even if you consider yourself to be famous.
So, Wesley, here's my advice, coming from one rebel to another so I know it is difficult: File it, pay it, and get on with it. The only collateral damage is going to come from your bank account and it will just get worse tomorrow. Now if you would spend as much time and energy on your movies as you did avoiding taxes you would probably win an Oscar!
1 comment:
Aww, Todd, give me something to work with here! Nothing controversial, no place for me to set you straight. You pretty much nailed the situation - how can I go off on a rant or a didactic diatribe on such a slam-dunk argument?
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