-- I UNDERSTAND POOR PEOPLE AND TAXES BUT THE RICHSinger Mary J. Blige continues to watch as her tax troubles worsen. The singer, who was first reported to owe the Garden State $900,000, has watched as her total owed to the US Government increased to a whopping $3.4 million.
A federal tax lien has been filed against Blige by the IRS. The agency claims that the pop superstar failed to pay $574,907.30 in 2009, $2,203,743.53 in 2010, and $647,604.60 in 2011.
If you do that math, thats a crazy $3,426,255.32 owed.
That money is on top of the $901,769.65 owed by Mary J. Blige to the state of New Jersey.
Its not just the IRS and state of New Jersey going after Blige. The singer is being sued for allegedly defaulting on a $2.2 million bank loan. Blige is also facing potential charges for allegedly taking a $250,000 loan from her own charity and then never paying back that money.
Mary J. Blige has not offered a public comment at this time.
Blige is hardly the first publicly available celebrity to owe millions of dollars in back taxes. R. Kelly was hit with upwards of $4,848,072.71, and Wesley Snipes spent years behind bars after racking up millions of dollars in unpaid taxes.
Its not clear yet if, like Snipes, Mary J. Blige actively evaded taxes or if part of her earnings were simply ignored. Snipes spent three-years in prison after he actively evaded taxes by failing to file for years.
It is also not certain at this time whether or not Mary J. Blige has the money to pay her back taxes or if she borrowed heavily against her own bankroll which led to a failure to pay.
We should know more when tax liens and other supporting government documents are filed on the state and federal level.
Do you think $3.4 million in owed taxes should land Mary J. Blige behind bars given her other money issues that are reaching lawsuit status?
