@meghannmcuniff: Comedian Carlos Mencia has been charged with 12 felonies in California for failing to pay taxes on $8.7 million in corporate and personal income between 2019 and 2024, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced today. District Attorney Nathan Hochman called Mencia "one of California's biggest tax scofflaws" and said he "has one of those distinctions that you actually don't want: He is on the California Franchise Tax Board's list of the 500 greatest tax delinquents in both personal and corporate income categories." Legal name Ned Arnel Holness, Mencia, 58, was arrested and in jail on $250,000 bond today (Thursday, June 18). He faces "over 10 years, potentially in prison, in addition to having to pay all the taxes back" with interest " with interest "that almost doubles the amount of tax" he'll owe. The income Mencia didn't file taxes on "translates into over $300,000 of state tax" and "we're not even dealing with whatever federal tax obligations he may have also not complied with," Hochman said. Mencia paid his taxes before 2019, and the California Tax Franchise Tax Board "sent Mr. Mencia 78 notices that he had failed to file returns, and he should file those returns," he said. Hochman quoted Mencia one of his comedy shows in 2007 when he said, "It's Tax Day. Maybe I'm different, but I believe that taxes are a good thing." "Unfortunately, during the 2019 to 2024 period, I am guessing that Mr. Mencia thought that taxes were maybe a laughing matter, but they're not a laughing matter," Hochman said. The prosecutor said the case is "a matter of fairness, because the people who attended Mr. Mencia's shows, who paid him the money that ultimately made up his income, that ultimately made up his taxes that he then failed to report and pay, these are hardworking individuals who were paying their taxes." "Yet Mr. Mencia decided, for whatever his reasons were during this time period, that he didn't want to be part of the citizenry that wanted to pay for the price of democracy and police and fire and roads and utilities," Hochman said. #law #crime #taxes

Meghann Cuniff

Open In TikTok:

Region: US

Thursday 18 June 2026 23:02:21 GMT