Nicolas Cage has become one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood. Why? Well, the Oscar winner has a pretty large tax debt.
According to TMZ , Cage recently paid more than $600,000 toward his tax debt. Unfortunately, the actor still owes the IRS millions.
Cage was hit with a tax lien of $624,934.64 back in 2011. He’s paid back that money, plus another lien for $6 million , but still owes about $6 million to the government.
Monsters and Critics reports that Cage’s tax debt comes from several extraordinary purchases (like a 67 million-year-old dinosaur skull) bought between 2004 and 2009 and a few bad business decisions. Cage sued his former business manager, Sam Levin, a few years ago saying that Levin led him down a path of “financial ruin.”
But Cage is pretty confident about his monetary situation. The actor has taken on dozens of roles recently in order to generate some income to pay off his tax debt.
In 2010, Cage said:
“Over the course of my career I have paid at least $70 million in taxes. Unfortunately, due to a recent legal situation, another approximate $14 million is owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), however, I am under new business management and am happy to say that I am current for 2009. All taxes will be paid including any to be determined state taxes.”
Cage starred in five movies in 2011 and has eight movies lined up for 2013. Cage’s recent movies haven’t been huge successes, but the actor still demands a pretty nice paycheck. According to IMDB , the actor was paid $7.5 million for the latest Ghost Rider, $12 million for Seeking Justice, and another $12 million for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
It’s not clear what Cage will be paid for his upcoming movies, but he should be able to pay back his $6 million tax debt in the next year or two.
Are you a fan of Nicolas Cage? Are you surprised that he has such a big tax debt?