Comic book and Star Trek novel writer Peter David is in trouble. He has a massive tax bill due and he doesn’t have the money to pay for it. As of now, he owes $88,000 in back taxes, interest, and penalties.
All this is from money he earned making a Canadian kid’s TV show called Space Cases. It appeared on TV for two years, beginning in 1996. According to Peter David, his now ex-wife pilfered half the money he set aside in a bank account for taxes. She used the money to hire a divorce lawyer. He then used the rest of the money to hire his own divorce lawyer, leaving no money for his taxes.
Peter David says he tried to make payments to the IRS. He would make payments, but then when April 15 rolled around, he wouldn’t have any money to pay that year’s taxes. He had already spent his money on paying his past tax bill.
Then, according to Peter David, the IRS forgot about it.
The IRS forgets nothing
As fate would have the IRS recently remembered Peter David’s owed a lot of money. They now want him to pay what he owes. Imagine that.
Peter David is now asking each of his Facebook and Twitter followers to send him $10. According to him, he has 5,000 followers on Facebook and 13,000 followers on Twitter. That means if each of these fans sends him $10 as he’s asked them to do, that will give him $180,000. That amount is much more than what he says he owes the IRS.
Fans can send him money through his PayPal account or special Go Fund Me page. As of this morning, his Go Fund Me page is showing people have given him over forty grand.
It’s things like this that make me glad I deleted my Facebook account. I’d hate to have some minor celebrity I follow on Facebook hit me up for money so he doesn’t have to go to prison. I do have a Twitter account, but I’ve never followed Peter David on Twitter. For all I know, he’s got me blocked.
Cheating on your taxes is bad, but so is asking fans to pay your taxes
I don’t know what’s worse: cheating on your taxes or begging fans to pay what you owe the government. Both scenarios involve you not paying what you owe. For me, asking people I don’t know for money because I decided not to pay the IRS like a regular person is much worse. It’s embarrassing. A worthy cause this is not. I will not be sending Peter David any money. He needs to pull up his big boy pants and pay his own taxes and not beg his fans to do it.
I pay my taxes every year. He should do the same. Endless wars in the Middle East don’t pay for themselves.
When Peter David is convicted for tax evasion and goes to prison, I might donate money to his prison commissary account. He could use it to buy beef jerky and Gatorade, items I’m told are quite popular in federal prison. If he gets sent to Cumberland, I could even visit him in person. It’s not that far from here.