SHORT TAKES : Texans Attend Benefit to Help Willie Nelson With Back Taxes
Residents pulled out their wallets--and their best dance steps--at a lively fund-raiser to help country singer Willie Nelson pay some of his back income taxes.
About 300 people attended the benefit Sunday night at the Broken Spoke nightclub, where Nelson began his climb to international stardom in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. Nelson was not present at the hall.
“He’s done a lot of things for a lot of people. I think it’s great that people want to help him,” said Will Light, a Nelson fan.
But while the event was expected to raise a tidy sum, with those attending paying $10 apiece for admission, it will not cut too deeply into Nelson’s enormous tax bill. Internal Revenue Service officials say Nelson owes them $16.7 million.
The IRS has seized properties Nelson owns in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii, Tennessee, Alabama and Texas, including his ranch and recording studio outside Austin, to satisfy two liens against him.
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