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INSIDE 1
Lessons Along the Way
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We’re Moving!
Stay Safe While Camping
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Tax Documents: Do You Know What You’re Signing?
Senegalese Lamb Skewers
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Money Troubles Catch Up With Nicolas Cage
Toph’s Tax Nightmares
The IRS Goes After a National Treasure Nicolas Cage is a Hollywood staple. He’s been in the movie business since 1981 and has featured in over 100 films. But despite being a hardworking actor and, at one time, among the highest-paid actors in the business, Cage found himself in tax trouble. In 2009, Forbes reported that Cage was earning $40 million a year. However, between 2005 and 2009, he bought and sold a number of properties around the world. This included a 40-acre island in the Bahamas, a medieval castle in Germany, another castle in England, and a manor house in Rhode Island. After all of these purchases and sales, the IRS filed a federal tax lien on one of Cage’s properties — this one in New Orleans, Louisiana. The lien was filed in response to unpaid federal taxes. According to the IRS, Cage owed $6.2 million in federal taxes for the 2007 tax year. Then the IRS hit Cage with a second lien, this time for $350,000 in unpaid taxes from 2002 to 2004. Cage claimed innocence in the matter and filed a lawsuit against his business manager, Samuel J. Levin. The lawsuit was for $20 million, and Cage claimed “negligence and fraud,”detailing that his business manager“failed to pay taxes when they were due and had placed [Cage] in speculative and risky real estate investments, resulting in (the actor) suffering catastrophic losses.”
beyond what he earned as an actor (which is mind-boggling when you remember he was making $40 million yearly). Levin continued to say that Cage had a shopping problem, and the fact that he owned 15 properties at the time (in addition to 22 cars, nine of which were Rolls-Royces, as well as extravagant artwork) was evidence of this. Unfortunately for Cage, his lawsuit didn’t pan out and the IRS didn’t back down. In the end, Cage sold off a significant portion of his properties and numerous collectibles — including an“Action Comics”No. 1, which was the debut comic of Superman in 1938. The comic sold for $2.16 million, and Cage successfully paid the IRS, but it’s not over for the actor, because he’s still paying off numerous other debts.
Well, Levin filed a countercomplaint. He detailed conversations with Cage, in which he allegedly told the actor he was spending far too much money—going above and
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