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by Yvette Carnell
Is it me, or does the IRS seem to have African-American artists in its crosshairs as of late? It would seem that the only Negro not 
getting extra attention from the IRS is Barack Obama.
Let’s do the math: First Wesley Snipes was locked up, and more recently, Lauryn Hill plead guilty to tax evasion charges. Kelis reportedly owes $300,000, R. Kelly 4.8 million, Mase owes $125,000, and music producer Sean Garret reportedly owes three quarters of a million dollars.
Now, according to Uncle Sam, Beanie Sigel, real name Dwight Grant, is being sent to lockup for earning $1 million in net income from 2003 through 2005 and not paying $348,077 in taxes due during that time period. In all, prosecutors say Sigel owes the IRS $728,536 for tax years 1999 through 2005.
The IRS is also planning to auction off the property of rapper Young Buck, whose home it raided some months back. When the rapper’s home was raided, IRS agents took everything, including his platinum plaques and gaudy jewelry.
Now, since I’m not privy to any of these celebrity’s tax returns, I can’t defend them. It is probably true that they didn’t do their due diligence, or that they didn’t adhere to the letter of the law or the time frames prescribed by the IRS.
But why is the IRS prosecuting these black men and women when General Electric paid a negative 48 percent in taxes last year? In layman’s terms, this means last year, GE, a huge multinational conglomerate, paid no taxes and got a hefty refund at the expense of the taxpayers. GE did that, and it was just fine and dandy with the IRS, but Young Buck’s house got raided?!
Gangster banks are more of a threat than gangster rappers, so why haven’t any of them warranted any scrutiny from Uncle Sam? In 2008, Goldman Sachs reported $2.9 billion in profits, and paid out over $10 billion in compensation, but paid only $14 million dollars in taxes, a 1% tax rate. Shouldn’t that warrant someone’s house getting raided?
Black people are easy targets for sure, because we don’t have anyone in Washington D.C. to do our bidding, to make our case. I’m painfully aware of that. But why should black artists comprise the majority of high profile IRS targets?
You should think about that when you’re writing comments like “he should pay his taxes like everybody else.” Who is the “everybody else” to which you’re referring? Because there are many men on Wall St., and elsewhere, who’ve offended the tax code far worse than these black celebrities, and will never receive as much as a threatening letter from the IRS, much less see the inside of a jail cell.
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Tokunboh
August 6, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Everyone, please go to Youtube and watch ‘Maafaa21′ which documents through a thirteen part series the systematic planning and implementation, by the government and Eugenics movement (funded by Rothschilde and Rockefeller), of a long range plan designed to kill off the African-American population through mass incarceration, state-sponsored and sanctioned murder, sterilization (still being carried out by Planned Parenthood), overwhelming media suffusion of negative stereotypes and the slanted manipulation of social institutions such as housing, medical availability, credit standing, educational opportunities, employment and promotion policies amongst hundreds of others, to the detriment of minorities in general but specifically and in particular Black men and women….that the IRS is disproportionately targeting young, wealthy affluent African-Americans is not news, the amazing thing is that we are not exposing all facets of this type of blatant discrimination and social repression, finding and implementing changes and adequate solutions to these vile but historical problems….
Candidate
July 28, 2012 at 9:28 am
Regarding the question: The answer is a profound “no!” Black celebrities target themselves by being too d**n lazy to ensure they meet their tax oblications. They fall into the same old trap late boxing great Joe Louis fell into.
The IRS doesn’t have to work hard to “take down” black folk making mega bucks. On a bet they know all that’s necessary to be done is watch and wait.
The “accountants” who “help” high profile black folk know out the gate they’re going to get filthy rich in a very short amount of time.
Ever wonder why the “accountants, managers and CPA’s” never get put on front street and jail time? All they have to say is thet did what “the boss” instructed them to do!
Blacks need to wake up and stop being cash cows for the lowdown dirty and greedy. How does anyone think Oprah ain’t broke? It’s because she doesn’t trust anyone and also because her staff never knows when she’s pulling an outside independent audit!
Simple solution. Somebody just ain’t got the memo. d**n shame.
David2001
July 15, 2012 at 9:49 am
I guess the logic is white people get away with it so why shouldn’t blacks. I have no sympathy for rich black people looking for the same unfair preferential treatment that many whites get. They should have paid there taxes plain and simple. They wouldn’t be in this situation if they did. Racism is no excuse for breaking the law.
Read my mind
July 15, 2012 at 2:22 pm
I’m not making excuses for any celebrity who doesn’t handle their tax liability. But put yourself in their shoes. You go from never having needed to file taxes, or only filing simple tax forms, to now needing to file complex tax forms. You go from being street savvy, to now needing to be tax and financial savvy.
These black celebrities are first generation rich, and have no idea how to handle that amount of money, let alone how to account for it. So these celebrities get bad advice, get referred to bad accountants, and the celebrity ends up in jail.
These first generation celebrities need a mentor who can refer them to the right handlers. If you think there are not sharks in the water, waiting to take advantage of these first generation celebrities, you are naive.
I was told a long time ago, that an accountant can make you or break you. Choosing the right accountant is crucial when you have assets. And if you have an accountant who does not understand the accounting needs of entertainers, and who was not recommended by an established entertainer, you’d better run from that accountant.
oronde takuma
July 29, 2012 at 2:07 pm
Follow the law? Whose law are we to follow? The “law” is nothing but the opinion of the ruling classes. Who are the ruling classes? The Capitialist ruling classes, who got rich and powerful as a result of the slave trade and maintain their power and riches through colonialism(not racism) land and resource theft, genocide, occupation( Iraq/Afghanistan) Africom military bases, and war. In other words; the “law” is made by Criminals, mass murderers, genocidal mainiacs. Africans in America are in financial and economic trouble all the time, not because of tax delinquencies but for the delinquency in the payments of reparations for slavery thats long over due. The U.S. government owes us we do not own the criminogenic U.S. government and society which benefitted economically and politically from our enslavement.
Vee
July 13, 2012 at 12:11 am
@ Read my mind…..funny you read my mind. I said the exact same thing several years ago.
Read my mind
July 12, 2012 at 9:18 pm
When I read about Beanie Sigel, 2 questions came to mind: are white celebrities under scrutiny also, and are any of the accountants for these black celebrities being prosecuted?
It is like any black person with a platform is being targeted by the law. Our politicians are under heavy scrutiny. Our celebrities are now under IRS scrutiny. And wouldn’t these celebrities have accountants? Don’t accountants get paid to manage money and file taxes?
These black celebrities better take a hard look at who is managing their money. And these celebrities better look for patterns of mismanagement between artists, accounting firms, etc.
Gene
July 12, 2012 at 6:47 pm
This, Yvette, and it will get worse, smdh. It is a shame that why isn’t big businesses are being looked at in terms of taxes instead of these black celebrities. something isn’t up, jmo.
Derrick
July 14, 2012 at 9:10 am
@Gene:
Remember the old saying back in the day: UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU!!!
Well, he got them! When these Blacks put their money in the hands of people, who look like ‘uncle sam’ aka willie lynch, these serpents are going to drain them.
Once they drain them, they throw them to the wolves. Blacks MUST learn to count and control their own money.
Those khazars are riping them off!