barnesgonzo: Beanie Sigel Says He's Getting The Al Capone Treatment

Friday, August 24, 2012

Beanie Sigel Says He's Getting The Al Capone Treatment

'I think it's flat-out illegal. Taxes is illegal. You shouldn't be able to tax income,' Beans says of his recent tax trouble on 'RapFix Live.'
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Beanie Sigel
Photo: MTV News

Beanie Sigel is known to keep it pretty gangster in the booth, and now he says the U.S. government is trying to do him like another well-known thug.

"I was Al Capone," the Broad Street Bully said on Wednesday's "RapFix Live." "You can't get me on this, you gonna get me on that, can't get me on that, so you know the Al Capone story — taxes."

Capone was linked to a Chicago-based crime syndicate in the 1920s. He was said to be involved in bootlegging, prostitution and murder, but it was tax evasion that the storied gangster was ultimately convicted of.

In August, Sigel pleaded guilty to tax charges and on September 12 the Philadelphia MC is expected to turn himself in to begin a two-year prison bid, though he alluded that things may change. "You never know man. I acquired a group of friends in high places that's working on some things for me, so we'll see," he told Sway

U.S. prosecutors estimated that the rapper owes approximately $350,000 on $1 million of unreported income between 2003 and 2005. Sigel says he was locked up for a good portion of that time period and couldn't conduct his business freely. "The years that they charged me for failure to file taxes is years that I was incarcerated," he said. "When you incarcerated in a federal facility, you're not allowed to conduct any business at all. So I couldn't file taxes or do anything in those years '04, '05, because I was in jail."

The former Roc-A-Fella spitter, who is set to release his new album This Time on August 28, went on to say that he believes taxes are illegal. "I don't know, in certain people's cases, like me, I think it's flat-out illegal. Taxes is illegal. You shouldn't be able to tax income," he said.

Sig went on to attempt to illustrate his point. "If I fix your roof and you wanna pay me in 20 pounds of bananas, do you think Uncle Sam wants 45 percent of my bananas," he tried to reason. "But because you paying me $400,000 in currency he wants a part of that, but my mom don't got no brother named Sam, so I don't have no Uncle Sam."

What do you think of Beanie Sigel's recent tax trouble? Let us know in the comments!

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