A federal judge in Philadelphia ordered actor Terrence Howard to pay nearly $1 million in back taxes, interest and penalties after he allegedly threatened a Justice Department lawyer and said it was immoral for the United States government to charge taxes to descendants of slaves.
For over a year, Howard rejected the IRS’s effort to collect $578,000 in income taxes that he didn’t pay between 2010 and 2019. Even after the Justice Department sued him in 2022 and tried to get him in court, Howard’s only response was a voicemail he allegedly left to the case’s lead tax attorney.
According to the message, Howard denied owing anything and threatened to shame the attorney by posting the lawsuit against him on the internet.
“Four hundred years of forced labor and never receiving any compensation for it,” the “Empire” star said in the message. “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.
“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.”
After a recent court hearing in Philadelphia, District Judge John F. Murphy granted the government’s request to enter a $903,115 default judgment against Howard.
The Hustle & Flow star has a history of failing to pay taxes. In 2010, the IRS imposed a $1.1 million lien on Howards’ property for his failure to pay income taxes in 2007 and 2008. In 2019, the state of California claimed that Howard owed $144,000 in taxes dating back to 2010. In the same year, it was reported that federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into Howard and his wife for tax evasion.
