The World Through My Eyes

Well it looks like another celebrity is going to jail. Wesley Snipes is getting 3 years for for failing to file income taxes. He insisted he never had to pay the taxes, but the action star cut the federal government three checks for $5 million. At first the prosecutors were so taken aback that they first declined the cash. But by the end of the day, the government took the money and more — a maximum three-year sentence for its highest-profile criminal tax target in decades.

"The sentencing court sends the right message to the American taxpayer — you've got to pay your taxes," U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill told reporters outside the usually quiet central Florida courthouse. "Rich, poor, it doesn't matter. We all pay our taxes." Snipes' attorneys argued the sentence was too stiff for a first-time offender convicted of three misdemeanors, and recommended he be given home detention and ordered to make public service announcements. But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a "history of contempt over a period of time" for U.S. tax laws. "In my mind these are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors," Hodges said. [Source]

Well, this is interesting, I do believe that they are making an example of Snipes by giving him 3 years, but it just goes to show, you have to pay taxes. I don't always agree with having to pay taxes, but you know what they say, "only thing certain in life is death and taxes." But in the long run I don't think that by making an example of Snipes is going to do anything to deter people from not paying their taxes. But that's just my opinion.