Wesley Snipes was convicted nearly a year ago of failing to file federal tax returns on at least $11 million in income earned between 1999 and 2001, and was sentenced to three years in prison. Since then his case in on appeal, and the judge has allowed Snipes to leave the country to work on movies.

Federal prosecutors have now learned that Snipes took an unauthorized trip to the United Arab Emirates for the gala opening of the $1.5 billion Atlantis the Palm hotel in Dubai.

On Tuesday Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill filed court documents to prevent Snipes from anymore work trips outside the United States. O’Neill wrote:

"Defendant Snipes’ assertion that he has ’lived up to the trust the court has shown in him’ is incorrect,"O’Neill wrote in the filing. "Defendant Snipes abused the court’s trust and did so in a very public way. For that reason alone, the court should deny his current request for international travel."

Snipes wants permission to go to Namibia to reshoot scenes for the horror film Gallowwalker and then to Torino, Italy, to shoot the action flick Game of Death.

Snipes attorney claims Snips should be able to travel, and is not going to run from the law:

"Snipes has never presented and does not currently present a risk of flight," attorney Daniel Meachum wrote in the latest travel request filed on behalf of his client."

"It is essential that Mr. Snipes complete this project to satisfy his civil tax liabilities and provide for his family."

Snipes was convicted and sentenced to prison. It’s almost like he’s out on paroll, except not. He should have known better, just like when he didn’t pay his taxes. Snipes might not only lose his priviledge to leave the country, but he may also be penalized by the court for violating their trust. That penalty could be sitting in prison while waiting for his appeal to run its course. Luckily the prosecutor didn’t ask for jail time, this time.

A Federal judge in Florida, Judge William Terrell Hodges, said Wesley Snipes could leave the country for three days this month, and to Thailand for eight weeks, while Snipes awaits his appeal on his conviction on tax evasion charges. Snipes told the judge he needed the work to pay of his debt to the IRS.

The two films Snipes will be filming are called Gallowwalker and Chasing the Dragon.

Wesley Snipes has asked the judge, in his tax fraud conviction case, to allow him to travel to London and Bangkok, Thailand, to work on two films. Snipes wants the judge to give him his passport back, so he can work to earn money "to satisfy his civil tax liabilities."

Snipes is currently appealing his conviction, and the prosecutors have a motion before the court asking Snipes to be incarcerated while his appeal is pending. It seems like it’s worth the risk to allow Snipes to earn money abroad, rather than stick him in a cell at tax payer’s expense.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a motion Thursday with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, saying that it will appeal a U.S. district judge’s May 22 decision allowing Wesley Snipes to remain free on bond while he appeals his three-year sentence. Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said:

"We want him in custody. He’s been convicted by a jury. He has been sentenced to three years and he should be in custody."

On May 22, Judge William Terrell Hodges wrote a court order saying:

"… the court is persuaded by the history of the case and all of the attendant circumstances that the defendant poses no substantial risk of flight and does not constitute a danger of any kind if he remains at liberty pending appeal."

After the April 25 sentencing, Snipes handed Hodges three checks totaling $5 million in back taxes. Cole said the Internal Revenue Department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, were working together to determine just how much Snipes still has to pay. Previously federal officials estimated Snipes owed about $17 million in back taxes, fines and interest.

It seems harsh to jail a citizen for not fulfilling their civil duty to pay taxes. It’s a dark day in our history as a country when the Government, through their agent the Internal Revenue Service, becomes a debt collector, which is probably one of the most hated concepts in our culture. The insult turns into an act of revenge when the I.R.S. jails a citizen for not fulfilling their civil debt. A more humane approach would appear to be to seize a percentage of the citizen’s assets to pay off some of the debt, but not take so much the citizen cannot afford to live. Fairness, or at least the appearance of fairness, would go a long way in securing the good will of citizens, and might even increase compliance in the payment of taxes.

Yesterday a judge said Wesley Snipes would not have to report to jail on June 3rd if he was granted bail. Today a court ruled Snipes could remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction. The judge granting the bail in Florida said:

"The Court recognizes that the disposition of an appeal may well equal, or nearly equal, the length of the term of the commitment imposed."

Translated, that means if the conviction is upheld by the appeals court, Snipes may do little or no jail time.