Lauryn Hill Going to Prison

Do you remember Lauryn Hill from 'Sister Act 2'?  She is now a singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, actress, and Grammy Award winner.  She is not an accountant.  And she has some ongoing tax problems.  Big tax problems that will now cost her some prison time.

According to TMZ:

Lauryn Hill has been sentenced to spend 3 months in FEDERAL PRISON for tax evasion … even though she claims she paid off her nearly $1 million bill to Uncle Sam before sentencing.  A judge in Newark, New Jersey dished out the sentence moments ago ... and told Hill that after she completes her stint behind bars, she'll spend 3 more months on house arrest ... followed by 9 months of supervised release.  Before the hearing, Hill's attorney told the media the singer scraped together more than $970,000 to repay her debt to the government.  The 37-year-old former Fugee pled guilty last year to three counts of tax evasion for failing to file returns on $1.8 million she earned from 2005 to 2007. Lauryn's attorney asked for mercy because of her charity work and 6 kids ... but the judge wasn't buying it.  During the hearing, the judge ordered Hill to report to prison by July 8. It's unclear where Hill will serve her time.

Lauryn Hill was at the hearing, and delivered this statement to the judge:

"I was put into a system I didn't know the nature of. ... I'm a child of former slaves. I got into an economic paradigm and had that imposed on me.  I sold 50 million units ... now I'm up here paying a tax debt. If that's not likened to slavery, I don't know what is."

Tax problems have to suck, but do you think her comparison to slavery might be a bit too much hyperbole?