A Philadelphia Federal Judge has ordered ‘Empire’ actor, Terrence Howard, to pay $900,000 in back taxes, interest, and penalties after he allegedly threatened a Justice Department lawyer and stated that it was “immoral for the United States government to charge taxes to the descendants of slaves.”
According to reports, Howard avoided efforts by the IRS to collect $578,000 in income taxes they said he refused to pay between 2010 and 2019. He was sued by the Justice Department in 2022.
Despite a months-long effort to engage Howard in court after the Justice Department sued him in 2022, his only response was a voicemail he left on the phone of the case’s lead tax attorney in November.
Philly Inquirer revealed that the actor responded with a voicemail sent to the case’s lead tax attorney. According to a court transcript, Howard said: “Four hundred years of forced labour 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 recording ended as Howard cut off but he called the attorney back to continue.
When he called back, he said: “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.”
Despite the vow, Howard never officially responded to the lawsuit. After a recent court hearing in Philadelphia, the government’s request to enter a $903,115 default judgment against Howard was granted by U.S. District Judge John F. Murphy.
