Top 12 tax evaders

With Wesley Snipes soon to be banged up for three years for deliberately forgetting to file a tax return, our thoughts have turned to other dastardly dodgers. Carol and I have put our heads together and come up with a list of our favourites. In no particular order, they are:

1. Lester Piggott. The jockey won dozens of major races but lost his liberty when he was convicted of tax evasion. He spent 12 months in jail.

2. Al Capone. Tax evasion wasn't really the gangster's biggest claim to criminal fame - that would probably be the St Valentine's Day Massacre - but it was all that the FBI could get him on. He was sentenced to 11 years and spent a significant part of that time in Alcatraz but was released after seven and a half years; he also paid off all his fines and back taxes.

3. Leona Helmsley. The hotel tycoon, who left $12 million to her dog when she died last year, has also spent time in prison for tax evasion. At her trial, a former employee gave evidence that she'd heard Helmsley say "Only the little people pay taxes." (Clearly she hadn't heard about Lester Piggott at this point).

4. Heidi Fleiss. Good at running an escort business; not so good at tax returns. Sentenced to three years for tax evasion, money laundering and pandering. (I believe that it's important to take a firm line against pandas and thus fully support this decision).

5. Boris Becker. No jail time for the tax-evading tennis player; simply a big fine and two years' probation for claiming to live in Monte Carlo while actually living in Germany.

6. Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The Russian oil tycoon was jailed for nine years in 2005 on charges including tax evasion and fraud. His supporters maintain that he's the victim of a political vendetta thanks to donations that he made to opposition parties.

7. Marc Anthony. Mr J.Lo agreed to pay about $2.5 million in back taxes, interest and penalties earlier this month after he failed to file returns for five years. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said that Anthony, who was not prosecuted on tax charges, failed to file returns from 2000 to 2004. 

8. General Augusto Pinochet. The late Chilean dictator was found by a US Senate investigation to have kept multimillion-dollar secret accounts at the Riggs Bank in Washington. They also said he had up to $17 million in foreign accounts. The Chilean courts charged Pinochet with owing $9.8 million in unpaid taxes.

9. Chuck Berry. The duck-walking rock 'n' roll legend has served three terms in prison, the last of which was for tax evasion. Berry pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service in 1979.

10. Luciano Pavarotti. The late great tenor was convicted of tax evasion in 1999 and ordered to pay $11 million by the Italian courts. But a subsequent accusation of tax evasion in 2001 didn't stick and he was acquitted.

11. Richard Pryor. The comedian served ten days in the Los Angeles County Jail for tax evasion after he reportedly "forgot" to pay up. He later returned to the prison to play a benefit gig for the inmates.

12. Sophia Loren. The actress was charged with tax evasion in 1982 and spent 18 days in an Italian prison.

Comments

[Richard Norton]

Well the elites need to get their cash from somewhere... we are their ATM's..... The queen steals more than anyone.... Has she ever given her true TAX status...NO!

[Jan Smolders]

Dear timesonline,

Very surprising to see no Belgians in the list. Tax evasion is considered a civil duty here :-).

BR

Jan

[robert everitt]

I bet Ken Dodd was tickled to be missed from the list.

[Christopher]

when a journalist can screen their critics posts? comedy what is pawned off as journaism this day and age. but what the hell.

Once again we have an educated idiot who has failed to do their homework.
First, helmsly did not say; "only the little people pay taxes" in response to her case. this is an out right lie. The reality is she was accused of saying this by a former disgruntled employee.
In Helmsly case she was convicted on tax evasion over less than 1% of her total taxes paid. Hint, people who pay $500,000,000 in taxes do not go around saying: "only the little people pay taxes."
tell me, if you paid half a billion dollars in taxes would you say such a stupid remark? of course not. but most assuredly a former disgruntled employee would accuse you of such ignorance.

[Carly Chynoweth]

Christopher on Leona Helmsley: you're right that she didn't say that in response to the case. During her trial, her former housekeeper testified that she'd heard Helmsley say "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes" - post changed accordingly.
For the record, the original post contained the sentence: "Her response to the case? 'Only little people pay taxes."

[Carol Lewis]

Ken Dodd was probably more tickled than you think. He was acquitted of tax fraud.

[Francesco]

forgot Valentino Rossi!! he paid an enormous fine!!

[cvt]

How in the world could you have overlooked Valentino Rossi? He just recently agreed to pay 35 million Euros in settlement of a 112 million Euro bill!

[Carol Lewis]

Oh yes, Rossi is a good one. Here is a little more on that for anyone else who missed it. www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article3359866.ece

[Jimmy Dee]

In 1992, The Queen offered to pay income tax and capital gains tax on a voluntary basis. As from 1993, her personal income has been taxable as for any taxpayer.

[Steve]

That's tax evasion. There's also tax avoidance, something beloved of mega-rich media moguls.

One in particular springs to mind, though I doubt I'd be able to say his name here.

[george sign]

At least he'll be able to get in touch with his feminine side whilst he's inside.

[Jeff]

Don't forget the hordes of manual workers- tradesmen, takeaway restaurants etc. who fail to declare their income (or only declare some of it, below certain thresholds for certain benefits), as cash in hand are how they do business.

Not forgetting IT contractors, taking in payment through wire transfer which causes ambiguity to determining whether money is part of a job and thus taxable.