Terrence Howard slammed a $1 million judgment for back taxes he owes by saying the federal government owes descendants of enslaved people, not the other way around.
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Even a broken clock is right twice a day and he makes a good point, mayne. While most Americans are grumbling about increasing income taxes to cover Republicans’ tax cuts for the wealthy, the Empire star has a different objection. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Howard reacted to an order to pay a $1 million tax debt by saying it was “immoral for the United States government to charge taxes to the descendants of slaves.”
Tell ’em we didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, mayne! The Hustle & Flow star did, however, buy a 2,450-square-foot property in Plymouth Meeting, PA. And he reportedly owed almost $639,000 to the state for it in 2005 and 2006. That property had a $1.1 million lien from the IRS for back income taxes in 2007 and 2008.
A federal judge hit Howard with a nearly seven-figure judgment in back taxes, interest, and penalties. The IRS tried and failed to collect $578,000 in income taxes from 2010 to 2019. The Justice Department sued him in 2022 after a decade of dodging. The former Marvel star allegedly threatened a lawyer on the case on a voicemail left in November.
“Four hundred years of forced labor and never receiving any compensation for it. Now you have the gall to try and prosecute and charge taxes to the descendants of a broken people that you are responsible for causing the breakage,” the message said per the Inquirer.
When the tax attorney’s voicemail cut off Howard mid-rant, he called right back. In addition to fighting to keep his coin, Lucious is lobbying for reparations while he’s at it.
“In truth, the entire United States should, by default, become the property of the descendants of slaves. But since you do not have the ability [or] the courage to do it, let’s try this in court. … We’re gonna bring you down,” the message continued.
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The message played in a court hearing last week in Philadelphia. U.S. District Judge John F. Murphy approved the government’s requested $903,115 default judgment after Howard’s lawyers never formally responded. The judge ruled that 14 months of trying to track down the actor was enough due diligence.
Welp, we can always use more people standing on Black American business about reparations, but who could’ve guessed Terrence Howard would lead the charge? The case for reparations comes from more than all the free labor that built some of this country’s biggest industries and institutions. The feds also used policies like redlining and eminent domain to financially exploit Black Americans while excluding them from wealth-building programs like the G.I. Bill.
The actor may face even more legal trouble for allegedly threatening a Justice Department attorney. Sometimes keeping it real goes wrong, mayne.