As if a flurry of flops “Knowing,” “Bangkok Dangerous” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” weren’t enough for Nicolas Cage. Now the 45-year-old Oscar winner is starring in a real-life drama with the Internal Revenue Service.
He’ll have to cough up $6.2 million of his own personal treasure to bail himself out of hot water. That whopping sum, according to news reports, is the amount the IRS is after for unpaid taxes from 2007.
That same year, Cage, who reportedly earns $12 million a picture starred in a pair of big-screen flops — “Ghost Rider” and “Grindhouse.” Those turkeys are a long way from when Cage was riding high in action hits like “Face/Off” and “Con Air” and prestige flicks like the alky drama that won him an Oscar, “Leaving Las Vegas.”
To pay the Taxman, Cage may be leaving his homes in Louisiana and Hollywood. He’s reportedly put on the market to recoup the cash. It’s not the actor’s first run in with tax offical, according to reports that say Cage agreed to pay more than $660,000 in back taxes and penalties in September 2008.
The Detroit News reports IRS officials filed tax lien documents against Cage in Orleans District Court on 14 July (09), alleging he failed to pay $6,257,005 to cover his income tax in 2007. Actor Nicolas Cage is in some hot water with the Internal Revenue Service. The agency placed two liens his properties – one for $6.26 million and the other for $360,545.84 – stemming from unpaid property taxes, the Times-Picayune reported.
The larger lien is a result of failure to pay income taxes in 2007; the smaller charge is a result of unpaid income taxes between 2002 and 2004, the paper stated. As a result, Cage will have to pay off the amounts before he can sell or refinance any properties. Otherwise, the payments due will come out at closing.
Filed with the Orleans Parish Recorder of Mortgages on July 14, the liens correspond to Cage’s 10,300-square-foot purple-gray mansion in the French Quarter. Cage bought that property, known as the LaLaurie mansion, in December, and it is listed for $3.55 million, the Times-Picayune article said. The actor also owns a Garden District mansion, listed for $3.45 million.
Both homes were put on the market this spring are listed with Dorian Bennett Sotheby’s International Realty. Bennett was unconcerned about any ill effects the liens might have on Cage’s ability to sell the houses. “It doesn’t do anything, quite frankly,” Bennett told the paper. “There are lots of people with lots of personal issues who are selling property.
“It’s rampant throughout our city and all cities that they’ve run into financial issues. It’s nothing more than just a legal issue and a monetary issue.”
