Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps owes the State of California $23 thousand in back taxes for the years 2005 and 2006. The State of California filed a tax lien on Phelps in order to secure payment of these taxes. When a tax lien is filed it becomes public information that the person who the lien was filed against owes money in taxes.
Phelps holds the world record for most gold metals won in a single Olympics. He won 8 gold metals in the 2008 Beijing Games in various swimming events. Phelps has gained much publicity and much stardom. It is estimated that he is worth around $50 million with all of his sponsors and endorsements that he has done. It makes it hard to believe that someone with this much money actually owes money in taxes. It makes you think that it was likely due to complexity of tax laws and not do to the lack of money to pay the bill. He is one of many celebrities to have tax liens filed against them in recent months.
Michael Phelps Making History in 2008 Olympics
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