Things keep getting worse for Lauryn Hill. While the hip-hop star awaits sentencing for failure to file federal taxes, she is also reportedly being hit with state charges in her native New Jersey.
According to TMZ, the state is alleging that Ms. Hill is responsible for $446,386 in unpaid taxes. The civil judgment came a few months back on June 14 by a Jersey court. Later that month, the ex-Fugees standout pleaded guilty to her federal tax charges after she failed to pay her debt on more than $1.5 million of income. Lauryn is currently out on bail but will appear in court in November, where she faces up to three years in prison.
"For the past several years, I have remained what others would consider underground," the Grammy award winner said in a statement she posted to her Tumblr site in June. "I did this in order to build a community of people, like-minded in their desire for freedom and the right to pursue their goals and lives without being manipulated and controlled by a media protected military industrial complex with a completely different agenda."
Hill defends that her actions were a means of survival for her and her family. "Obviously, the danger I faced was not accepted as reasonable grounds for deferring my tax payments, as authorities, who despite being told all of this, still chose to pursue action against me, as opposed to finding an alternative solution," she said in the statement. "My intention has always been to get this situation rectified. When I was working consistently without being affected by the interferences mentioned above, I filed and paid my taxes."