Despite boasting an outstanding tax liability last year of more than $1.5 million, California has removed OJ Simpson from its list of biggest income tax evaders. While the state will not comment officially on the removal, it’s widely thought that Simpson’s name was removed from the list because he is currently in prison and there is practically no chance that the state will never recover the debt. Or it could be the case that Simpson settled his tax obligations (insert hysterical laughter here).
Other celebrities (and I use that term loosely) were not so lucky. Topping the list of tax evaders in the state were such big names as Burt Reynolds, Sinbad and Dionne Warwick. Sinbad and Warwick each owe over $2 million while Reynolds owes $225,000.
Of course, those names make up only a small percentage of the $6.5 billion in unpaid income taxes each year in the State of California. State Controller John Chiang hopes that publishing the list may shame some folks into finally paying up. I think he’s a hopeless optimist – a similar list published in my own City of Philadelphia does not seem to be working. The same names appear atop the list year after year. *Sigh*
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