Lauryn Hill Blames Tax Evasion on Threats to Her Family

Lauryn Hill says that she didn't pay her taxes for three years in a row to protect her family.

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According to papers filed Monday, obtained by TMZ, Hill says that the reason she didn't file tax returns in 2005, 2006 and 2007 was because "she withdrew from society at large due to what she perceived as manipulation and very real threats to herself and her family."After enjoying great success with the release of her 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, The Fugees singer vanished from the music scene in the early 2000s, something Hill has also ascribed to threats she and her family were receiving. Hill had previously claimed that the move underground was to get in touch with her musical roots."I did not deliberately abandon my fans, nor did I deliberately abandon any responsibilities, but I did however put my safety, health and freedom and the freedom, safety and health of my family first over all other material concerns!" she wrote on her Tumblr in June.

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Hill reportedly earned more than $1.8 million from 2005 to 2007. Though she pleaded guilty to tax evasion last June, Hill is now asking the court to reexamine her reasons for not filing and is requesting probation, adding that it will be harder to pay off her debt from jail (she faces the maximum of one year for each count of tax evasion). The judge will rule on Hill's current plea on April 22.