Swizz Beats' Got A Milli… In Taxes

posted in: Music News

Seventy six days. That’s how long we have until the most dreaded day of the year: tax day, April 18th (normally it would be on the 15th, but thanks to an obscure holiday in Washington DC we’re getting a little extension this year). It’s the day when we all hunker down and actually do our tax forms that we said we had already done. We scramble to the post office to turn in our forms and we all curse the Tax Wizard for magically taking all of our precious monies away. But you can rest your head with the knowledge that no matter what your circumstances, there’s always going to be somebody who owes the government more than you do. Like Swizz Beats, for instance. The producer has racked up a whopping $2.6 million in outstanding debt to the IRS. The question is¦ why?

Beats is not just any producer. He’s a Super Producer, a man deserving of all the uppercase first letters in his title. Check out the Wikipedia page for his production discography for an idea of the scope of his work. It’s deep, going back years with tracks for Beyonce, Jay-Z, Ludacris and Lil Wayne. He also produced this. It’s not as though 2010 has been a quiet year for him either. Fancy and Roman’s Revenge alone should put anybody into the green. I’m not even going to mention the other pots he’s got his hands in. Plus, he’s married to Alicia Keys!

The man does have his expenses though. Beats recently paid alimony owed to ex-wife Mashonda in a lump sum of $334,000. And I bet his new mansion is a little on the pricey side too. Still, someone with this level of success shouldn’t carry this much debt. While it seems to be a sign of the times that many people are living dangerously beyond their means, this issue seems removed from all that. Sure, we all remember the MTV Cribs where we saw some flavor of the month rapper and his lavish estate only to hear to talk of their bankruptcy not to long after. Beats can probably afford to get whatever he wants; he’s 32 and had produced his first hit when he was 17, DMX’s Ruff Ryder’s Anthem. He’s been in the game for years and been as successful in music as one can be. And yet Swizz is still this deep in the hole?

It’s unlikely that Beats will be facing any jail time as his lawyers are reportedly in talks with the IRS to work out a payment plan on his outstanding liens. Still, I guess the old adage is true: “Mo money, mo problems.”