Rapper Lil’ Kim, who is being tried in Federal District Court in Manhattan for lying to a federal grand jury investigating the 2001 shooting outside the Hot 97 radio station, has been said to owe almost $1 million in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

The 30-year-old sultry hip-hop star, nee Kimberly Jones, took the stand for a second day, wearing a strawberry pink bow tie at her neck, a matching woven skirt and a cream pique jacket with raised daisies. Although the indictment has nothing to do with tax charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cathy Seibel has brought up the subject of Lil' Kim's tax debt and a 1994 tax document, signed by the performer that shows monthly expenses of over $37,000 when her monthly income was only $30,000, to uphold the portrayal of her as a "liar who believes she is above the law".

When asked by the prosecutor about budgeting herself to pay IRS, Lil’ Kim’s reply was, according to Reuters: "Yeah, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't."

Seibel also said that Ms. Jones had purchased a new home in Alpine, N.J., for $2.3 million in May 2002, when she still owed nearly $300,000 in unpaid taxes, and presented the singer’s tax obligation as evidence. In response, the rapper blamed it all on her accountant and business manager who allegedly took care of all finances and paperwork: "I go by whatever they tell me to do... This is how I delegate my business. They tell me everything is fine...I move on with my life."

The prosecutor continued the trial with question about Jones’ earlier testimony that she owned about $500,000 worth of jewellery, which contradicted her reports to the IRS, stating that her jewellery was worth $49,000.

"The document says you own one-tenth of that," Seibel accused.

Lil' Kim, who could face up to 30 years in prison, said she had probably signed the document without reading it.

"I'm not going to lie about this. I have nothing to hide, you can call my accountant," she told the prosecutor.