Wesley Snipes is Wanted

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.