DEATH AND MAYBE TAXES

Outtakes would like to pay tribute to the nice folks at IRS. Good going, guys!

It’s that time of year--tax time--when we do our duty.

But are such great American heroes as Superman, Santa Claus and mega-patriot John Rambo paying their share?

Maybe not.

Daily Variety’s David Robb reported that a number of monster producers (among them, non-Americans Dino De Laurentiis, Alexander Salkind and the Golan/Globus guys) have operated through corporations in the Netherlands Antilles, where U.S.-based independent producers are provided a legal tax haven for foreign income.

Superman, Robb believes, helped support Truth, Justice and the American Way with his first three films (which Salkind produced). But the Man of Steel apparently will escape some of the tax bite with “Superman IV,” since Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus’ Cannon Films plans to make the pic through its Antilles subsidiary.

“Santa Claus” was able to withhold some goodies at tax time, Robb figures, because Salkind financed that flick about unselfish giving through an Antilles company.

(Claus may not strictly be considered American, but he certainly stands for American values!)

But what about flag-waving “Rambo,” which has grossed $300 million-plus worldwide. Robb reported that exec producers Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar created an Antilles corporation that controls the copyright to “Rambo” and “First Blood.”

Alas, Vajna and Kassar weren’t available to discuss it, said a spokeswoman for their company, Carolco.

Pleading ignorance of Carolco money matters, she would only tell us, “I know that the company is not in the Netherlands anymore.” Vajna and Kassar, she added, are currently producing “Angel Heart” from a NYC-based company and “Extreme Prejudice” from one in L.A.