Don't Mess With Taxes

Wesley Snipes and Richard Hatch are poster boys for the Internal Revenue Service.

Both men made really stupid tax decisions.

Both are paying for their tax transgressions in federal prison.

And both also keep getting whacked by the courts.

That's why they are perfect Follow-up Friday fodder.

Snipes' new trial request rejected: Let's start with Snipes, who in December 2010 reported to a Pennsylvania federal prison to serve his three-year term on three misdemeanor convictions of failure to file tax reutnrs.

Since that 2008 verdict, the actor best known for the Blade vampire hunter trilogy has been appealing his conviction. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Snipes' appeal.

Last week, a federal appeals court in Atlanta has rejected Snipes' request to overturn a lower court's denial of the actor's motion for a new trial.

The court pleadings also sought to interview the jurors who convicted him; that, too, was refused.

For your weekend reading pleasure, check out the full appellate court's decision.

Hatch says he's broke: Now to Hatch, the first winner of the reality game show Survivor.

After pocketing $1 million from that CBS network program, Hatch didn't pay taxes on the money. He spent three years in federal prison for that oversight.

Hatch, who gained as much notoriety for wandering around the Survivor island unclothed as he did for winning, was released in 2009 and ordered to refile and pay his 2000 and 2001 tax bills.

When he didn't, he was sent back to jail.

In August, Hatch went back to court claiming he's destitute and needs a court-appointed lawyer to help him appeal his latest tax-related jail sentence.

A federal judge in Rhode Island refused that request.

These guys are quite a pair. They need to share a cell where they can work on a script for a tax-themed remake of The Defiant Ones.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Snipes cleared of most serious tax charges,
  convicted of misdemeanors 
• 'Survivor' tax scofflaw violates probation
• Celebrity tax issues archive Note: this item will be shown first; scroll down for all the tax scoop on the rich and famous.