A federal judge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has ordered actor Terrence Howard to pay a fine of $903,114 in back taxes.
Howard has been pursued by the Justice Department for over a year for non-payment of a $578,000 income tax bill covering what he owed from his 2010-2019 returns.
The court ruled in favor of the prosecution and leveled a $903,114 judgment against the actor as he did not respond to the Department Of Justice (DOJ) or turn up to hearings.
That figure accounts for unpaid federal income tax assessments, penalties, and interest for 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017 and 2019 tax years and accrued interest up to December of 2023 — which has and will continue to pile up until Howard pays.
The 54-year-old Empire actor declined to defend himself in court, his justification for the longtime nonpayment of his income tax bill was given in a voicemail that the court attached to its ruling.
Howard said in the voicemail that it was immoral for the government to tax the descendants of slaves.
“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,” Howard said in the message before it briefly cuts off; he then continued after calling back, according to the judgment. “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,” Howard said.
