Some Celebs Who Avoided the IRS
April 15 -- Even though many well-known performers, athletes and entrepreneurs make more money than Midas, sometimes they just don't want to share any of those hard-earned bucks with Uncle Sam.
Tax evasion has become a widespread and costly practice. Tax avoidance schemes cost the U.S. Treasury tens of billions of dollars a year. And the IRS has not been particularly adept at catching all of the offenders. In 2000, the IRS caught about $5 billion in improper tax avoidance or tax credit and refund claims, although the General Accounting Office estimates that $20 billion to $40 billion is still uncaught.
But there are exceptions to those who get away with it. And if there's any lesson to be learned from Al Capone, the infamous mobster who was ultimately sent to the big house for tax evasion in 1930, it's that crime doesn't pay. Yet that hasn't stopped these people from trying their luck:
Gamblin' Man: Former major league baseball player Pete Rose was convicted in 1990 of filing two fraudulent tax returns and admitted concealing $300,000 of income from gambling and baseball card shows. Rose, who was banned from baseball for gambling in 1989, served five months in prison for the crime.
Pinstriped Prisoner:Troubled ex-Yankee Darryl Strawberry pleaded guilty for failing to pay taxes between 1986 and 1990. The former outfielder received a six-month sentence of home confinement and was ordered to pay $350,000 in back taxes and penalties.
Giant Omission:Former New York Giant Lawrence Taylor received three months' house arrest, five years' probation and 500 hours of community service after pleading guilty in 1997 to failing to report $48,000 in income from a sports pub he owned in East Rutherford, N.J., on his 1990 income tax return. He earned $1.39 million that year.
Paternal Problem:Steffi Graf has had her share of problems through no fault of her own. The German tennis champ's father, Peter Graf, was sentenced in 1997 to three years and nine months prison for evading taxes on $6.55 million of his daughter's tennis earnings. He was released in April 1998 after serving more than half the sentence.
