On Feb. 2, 1993, 28 years ago today, Willie Nelson reached an agreement on how to settle his outstanding debt with the IRS. The deal involved both cunning negotiations and clever repayment methods, and was a long time in the making.
Nelson had originally been slapped with an eye-popping $32 million back taxes bill in 1990. The legend managed to get that amount reduced to $16.7 million, a number
Rolling Stone notes included $10.2 million in interest and penalties.
Unfortunately, that bit of good news was only a reprieve. Because Nelson was unable to pay up, the government placed liens on his property and then, in November of 1990, seized his assets including gold records, a piano and his Texas ranch. (His beloved guitar, Trigger, was saved after Nelson s daughter smartly sent it to Hawaii before the property seizures.)