Wesley Snipes, who was jailed for failure to file taxes, claims Trump avoided tax because of ‘who he knows’

Reports, blasted as ‘totally fake’ by Trump, claimed that US president paid as little as $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017

Wesley Snipes, who was jailed for failing to file his taxes, has claimed that Donald Trump avoided paying tax because of “who he knows”.

The Blade actor was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008 for “wilful failure to file $15m (£11.6m) of federal income tax returns”. He was released in 2013, serving two and a half years of his sentence.

Trump, meanwhile, was claimed to have avoided paying federal income taxes for 11 of the 18 years investigated by the New York Times in September. In 2016, the year Trump was elected US president, he paid just $750 (£582) in federal income tax.

Asked by The Guardian why Trump was never charged with any crime, or investigated, Snipes said: “Well, that’s an easy answer. He’s the president of the United States.”

After being reminded that Trump was avoiding tax long before he was elected, Snipes replied: “This is not rocket science. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Snipes, who next stars in the Eddie Murphy sequel Coming 2 America, also condemned rumours of his poor behaviour on the set of 2004’s Blade: Trinity. Comedian Patton Oswalt, who appeared in the film, claimed in 2012 that Snipes was “f***ing crazy” while filming, and attempted to strangle director David S Goyer.

“Let me tell you one thing,” Snipes said. “If I had tried to strangle David Goyer, you probably wouldn’t be talking to me now. A black guy with muscles strangling the director of a movie is going to jail, I guarantee you … Did I go to jail for strangling him? Never happened.”

He continued: “I can barely remember [Oswalt] on the set, but it’s fascinating that his statement alone was enough to make people go: ‘Yeah, you know Snipes has got a problem.’”

Wesley Snipes and Donald Trump (Frazer Harrison/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

During a presidential debate in September, Trump appeared to deny the claims that he hadn’t paid tax, insisting that he paid “millions of dollars” in tax in 2016 and 2017.

“It was the tax laws,” Trump continued. “I don’t want to pay tax. Before I came here I was a private developer. I was a private business people. Like every other private person, unless they’re stupid, they go through the laws.”

He also claimed in September, without providing evidence otherwise, that the reports were “totally fake”.