It's become an interesting debate among some people: Does Wesley Snipes really deserve up to three years in jail for three tax evasion related misdemeanors?

Perhaps the questions come because Snipes' sentence hit papers as news dropped that three New York police officers were acquitted for a 50-shot killing of a man on his wedding day, who happened to be black. But there's a decided racial tint to some protests about Snipes, who the government says still owes about $20-million in fines and back taxes.

But when you look at who else has been in the IRS cross hairs, the picture gets muddier.

Willie Nelson got to hold auctions and charity concerts to pay off a $16-million IRS debt, which he had negotiated down from $32-million. He eventually only repaid about $12-million.

But Leona Helmsley spent 18 months in prison and got a $7-million fine for actively trying to avoid paying taxes in 1989. Pete Rose spent five months in jail in 1990 for filing false returns, but when the IRS concluded he owed more than $970,000 from 1997 to 2002, he didn't get jail time.

Chuck Berry served 120 in 1973 for failing to report $200,000 in income; in 1995, Darryl Strawberry was convicted of owing $450,000 in back taxes and singer Marc Anthony (Mr. Jennifer Lopez, to some of you) wound up owing $2.5-million after he was found guilty of failing to file tax returns for $15-million.

So it seems obvious that the IRS is both ruthless and unpredictable. Hope you filed your tax returns on time...