(Virtually no prize winners or hired actors get paid on a W2 and neither did Hatch. AT BEST, CBS could have withheld a percentage of Federal taxes, but Hatch would still have had to deal with the Social Security and Medicare payments. And before CBS would withhold the taxes, Hatch would have to fill out a variety of paperwork separate from whatever NDAs and contracts relating to the "Survivor" show. He's a cheater and a bad liar.)
From a law enforcement-related mailing list I subscribe to... the last word on Richard Hatch, currently starring in "Survivor: Federal Pen".
When we last checked in on Survivor winner Richard "But the Producers Promised to Pay My Tax Bill" Hatch, he was convicted on three counts of tax fraud, sentenced to 51 months in prison, and was required to pay $474,971 plus interest and penalties for taxes owed. Earlier this year, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the conviction and sentencing. Not surprisingly, Mr. Hatch vowed to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court.
However, the high court has just declined to review the case, so Mr. Hatch has no further options.
The moral of this story? Perhaps it is best stated by Eileen J. O'Connor, former Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Tax Division, who at the time of the sentencing said, “Our nation's federal tax system is not a reality show to be outwitted, it is a reality, period."
