Hogan: Call that a tax claim?

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-5  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

ACTOR Paul Hogan, star of the "Crocodile Dundee" movie trilogy, challenged Australian tax authorities yesterday to "come and get me" in the United States after a newspaper reported he was under investigation for tax evasion.

Speaking outside his Santa Barbara mansion, the 68-year-old told Australia's Ten Network television "they should build a statue of me up there at the tax office."

"Come and get me," Hogan said with a grin, in an obscenity-laced statement addressed to the Australian Taxation Office.

Hogan, targeted by an Australian tax evasion task force set up three years ago to track foreign taxable income, has repeatedly denied that he dodged taxes.

The Australian newspaper reported yesterday that Australian tax authorities had asked for help from the US Internal Revenue Service in obtaining Hogan's banking records.

Four companies related to Hogan have been ordered to hand over documents, it said, citing court documents.

Hogan is fighting the IRS involvement, arguing that it is being used to obtain documents that Australian officials could not lawfully obtain, his Australian lawyer David Rydon told the newspaper.

Hogan said he was returning to Australia in September to make a movie.