Paul Hogan - Hogan 'Can't Afford' Tax Bill

PAUL HOGAN is adamant he can't afford to pay off his massive multi-million dollar tax bill - insisting Australian authorities are just "desperate to nail some high-profile character".

The Crocodile Dundee star has spent the last few years embroiled in a dispute with officials at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), who allege the actor used offshore bank accounts to conceal his earnings and now owes a reported $32.1 million (£21.4 million).

The Australian star, who lives in Los Angeles, flew back to Sydney earlier this month (Aug10) to attend his mother's funeral, and was immediately slapped with a departure prohibition order to prevent him leaving the country as the dispute rumbles on.

Hogan has now spoken out for the first time about his battle - he's adamant he is not a "tax evader" and doesn't have the funds to pay back the ATO's staggering estimate.

He says, "If I was a tax evader, which I'm not, I must be the dumbest one in the world, because they gave me five years notice that they have seized every piece of paper that my tax advisers and lawyers and accountants have ever had. I kept coming back here.

"I can't pay 10 per cent of what they're asking."

Hogan's lawyer Andrew Robinson adds, "The figure that has been quoted is not correct, but what they want is huge. Even if he liquidates everything, he wouldn't have the money to pay the bill, then fight it later."