Burton

Chris Tucker was paid a reported $25 million for Rush Hour 3.. then mostly disappeared from movies.. and in 2014 the IRS filed an $11.5 million tax lien against him. That is almost half of the biggest check of his career, owed back to the government. In the 1990s he went from Smokey in Friday to Jackie Chan's partner in Rush Hour. "I don't do stuff for money," he says. "Never did." The court record: 1995: Friday comes out. He plays Smokey. 1998: Rush Hour pairs him with Jackie Chan. 2007: Rush Hour 3 hits theaters. It is his last big studio payday. 2014: the lien is filed, for unpaid federal taxes. 2023: he returns in Air, playing Nike's Howard White. He says he wrote all six of his scenes. "I got to pay these bills," he says. "I'm tired of seeing these notices." The case for Chris: he says he stepped away on purpose, to grow, travel "the world 10 times over" and only take roles he could do his best in. The case for the IRS: a tax lien is the government's legal claim on your property until the bill is paid. The taxes were owed on money he had already earned. Then the twist. He says the IRS is no longer the problem. "I done paid the IRS off," he says. "But I owe some more people now." His offer to them, in his words: "Let's make a deal." And his own summary of the fortune: "I got rich," he jokes. "I ain't got nothing. No more." If you have ever let one big check carry you for years, you know how fast a payday turns into a payment plan. In the video below, Chris Tucker says: "I was the highest paid in Hollywood, 25 million a movie and back end." Did stepping away from Hollywood cost him more than the IRS ever did?