Paul Hogan says tax bill is a bunch of croc as he's not worth 10% of it

Actor Paul Hogan, star of the Crocodile Dundee film trilogy, has said he cannot afford to pay even 10 per cent of what the Australian Tax Office says he owes.

Hogan has been barred from leaving Australia for his home in the US as a "flight risk". Speaking in a television interview for the first time since the imposition of the ban, he said that after settling in America he continued to pay tax in Australia for seven years as he was grateful that the government had provided him with a council house when he was a poor painter working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

He added that, in any case, he simply cannot pay the multi-million dollar tax bill. "I'm not as rich as people think," he said. "I couldn't even pay 10 per cent of what they're asking."

He added that he was not asking for special treatment because he is a celebrity: "I'm not Paris Hilton, I'm just Hoges. All I've ever wanted is a fair go."

Speaking to Channel Nine,, Hogan, 70, who helped put Australia on the tourism map with his "throw another shrimp on the barbie" adverts, said his lawyer had warned him not to be funny - or to insult taxmen by calling them "Boofheads".

"It's not right because around the world now, people think I'm a prisoner in paradise. They only think it's paradise because I've been telling them for 20 years it is," he said. "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 had seized every piece of paper that my tax advisers, lawyers and accountants had. They seized all that and said 'we're after you'.

"So, instead of whipping off to Brazil and renting Ronnie Biggs's house and laying back going 'ha ha, come and get me', I kept coming back here."

Hogan had been visiting Sydney for the funeral of his mother on 20 August when he was served with an Australian Taxation Office order that prevents him from leaving the country until he settles the tax bill.

Australian tax and crime investigators have fought Hogan in a five-year legal wrangle in Australian and US courts to investigate evidence that he used offshore bank accounts to conceal earnings since his low- budget Crocodile Dundee became an international hit in 1986.

Tax authorities last month claimed that Hogan owed tax on AUS$38 million (22m) allegedly undisclosed income.

The exact tax bill has not been disclosed. The actor insists that he is not even worth the amount of his tax bill in assets: "Nowhere near it."

He added: "The last time I filled out my tax return, I remember putting in two allowances for wet weather gear because I was working on the Harbour Bridge.

"After that, it got too complicated for me. I had no money, I didn't care. I was happy because I never needed to worry about keeping up with the Joneses.That was beyond my dreams, so I never thought about it.

"Suddenly, overnight, I went right past the Joneses. They couldn't keep up with me, so why should I care about them?

"In fact, in the years when I was paying tax in Australia, I probably went past David Jones (Australia's top high street store chain].

"But I couldn't tell you because I don't count the money. I never have. I don't have to.

"I'm not as rich as people think I am. They think I did a movie that did $300m at the box office and I get that."