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Original poster

Reporting housemate's tax evasion

62 replies

stripper4cash · 02/03/2012 07:54

Namechanger because this post coupled with others would definitely give me away.

My housemate is a stripper. This has been her job for the last five years. I really don't care what she does for a living, but it does bother me that in all that time, she's never paid tax. She's paid cash in hand after every shift.

We have lived in the same houseshare for about a year but it was only recently that she confessed to me that she's never paid tax and doesn't intend to. Ever. I'm generally a live and let live kind of person but it really rankles that her large income remains untaxed while I (and the rest of us - unless you're Barclay's Bank or Sir Philip Green) shell out PAYE each month.

This is complicated by the fact she's not from this country (from another large English-speaking country) and has always been vague on the details of her residency.

Should I:

a) report her
b) do nothing
c) take up stripping myself.

OP posts:
DinahMoHum · 02/03/2012 09:50

i would consider it none of my business, and id hae more loyalty to a friend than to the tax man. Do you exoect youll get sme sort of pat on the back or maybe a rebate for grassing up a friend whos had the misfortune to have to resort to stripping?

catgirl1976 · 02/03/2012 09:51

Nope - I am with Methe - "benefit scroungers" don't bother me at all.

If I drew up a list of things that get me in a lather, people at the bottom of the ladder getting a few extra pounds here and there by working cash in hand in some crappy job and either stil claming benefits or not declaring it for tax would be so far down it it's not true.

Amazon don't pay a shiney penny in tax in this country.

That would be higher up my list........just as an example.

MrsWifty · 02/03/2012 09:54

what KitchenRoll said. Can't believe so many people are saying this is okay. Not as worthy a point as KitchenRoll's, but would you say the same if she was nicking your cheese out of the fridge, or expecting you to pay her share of the gas bill? It's the same principle.

alicethehorse · 02/03/2012 09:58

Why are you jealous of her? She's in an industry with a relatively short shelf life, which will most likely screw with her self esteem and her ability to form healthy relationships with men (unless she's very grounded indeed!).

Once she gets to a certain age, or if she puts on weight, or gets sick etc etc she'll not have a job. You on the other hand presumably have a career, which you will expect to develop in over the next decade or so? And you're jealous of her? IMO she is being exploited, not something I'd be at all envious of. Her "career" will eat her up and spit her out! She has zero security.

Why would you report her? You know she'll be deported, right?

Seriously none of your business. if you have a problem living with her than tell her so. To report her is immoral on a personal level IMO. Not exactly the milk of human kindness.

alicethehorse · 02/03/2012 10:00

agree wholeheartedly with catgirl.

Do Amazon not pay tax here either? That one had passed me by. Now that really is shocking. Angry

alicethehorse · 02/03/2012 10:01

RuleBritannia that's so unlikely as to be laughable, really.

ConferencePear · 02/03/2012 10:02

The idea is that you pay in when you can and draw out when you can't. It isn't fair to the rest of us who do contribute not to join in.
You should report her. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for the government to do something about though.

randommoment · 02/03/2012 10:02

Professional sports players have a limited career period too, is it ok for them to not pay taxes?

HappyCamel · 02/03/2012 10:05

But we don't pay taxes just for benefits if we need them. She uses roads, uses the NHS, uses the services of her local council, she should contribute from her taxes to the benefits for those who need them she should be contributing to the education of all the country's children (and not just because when she's older they may be the doctor who saves her life).

If we don't all contribute when we can everything gets royally fucked when we can't.

catgirl1976 · 02/03/2012 10:06

Apparantly not alice

linky

alicethehorse · 02/03/2012 10:07

I'm not saying that it's OK that she doesn't pay taxes. I think the idea of contributing when we can and getting money back when we need it is great. FWIW I think we should pay more taxes! And I am scrupulously honest myself. i was a landlord at one point and my tenant was on HB. People suggested I put the price up as the government would pay it but I refused! So I can definitely say I put my money where my mouth is on that one!

However I think that getting someone deported for small scale tax evasion is more immoral than the small scale tax evasion itself.

mojitomania · 02/03/2012 10:07

I'd leave well alone and feel rather sorry for her to be in that industry at all.

Jackstini · 02/03/2012 10:09

Another one who is shocked at the number of posters saying do nothing!
Great - that's one of the reasons the country is in such a mess. (Certainly not the only one but benefit and tax fraud is an issue)
Yes you should report her employer and let the investigators take it from there.
Her contribution may not be huge but it is unfair on everyone else who does pay their fair share.

timetoask · 02/03/2012 10:13

Presumably she is using public services? She should be paying tax.
I honestly don't know if I would report my friend, but I would probably tell her that I don't agree with what she is doing.

alicethehorse · 02/03/2012 10:15

Thanks for that catgirl.

HappyCamel the reason everyone gets royally fucked is people are too busy pointing the finger at each other, and small-scale benefit scroungers (real and imagined) to see the bigger picture!

Original poster
stripper4cash · 02/03/2012 10:25

alice - I don't think I said I was jealous of my housemate! Far, far from it.

Yes she is using public services. She goes to the doctor anyway. I doubt she has a library card but she uses roads and the odd rubbish bin like the rest of us.

Dinah - yes I expect a pat on the back and possibly a knighthood for my services to HMRC Hmm

I don't think I will report her as it's just too close to home - it IS my home. She is quite free and easy with her tax dodging so maybe someone else will.

OP posts:
PandaWatch · 02/03/2012 10:26

Most strippers are legitimately self-employed. They pay a fee to the club each night they dance and keep everything they get from the punters. That's why they are so aggressive at "marketing" themselves. The club makes it money from entry fees, the fees paid by the strippers and from the bar. Therefore this is not the club's problem .

As for what you should do, I'm in two minds. Which I appreciate is of no help to you! I probably wouldn't because I'd be too concerned about karmic retribution Grin

PandaWatch · 02/03/2012 10:28

And to clarify, my reference to karmic retribution does not mean I've ever done anything similar!

herethereandeverywhere · 02/03/2012 10:30

I'll join the chorus of voices shocked at the posters who are pouring scorn on the idea of reporting her.

It is unfair to law abiding tax payers to let some people pick and choose if and how they pay. I don't want to see the best part of half of my salary disappear so that I can support (via all the services etc our taxes pay for) those who choose not to pay (whether they're Barclays, Philip Green, a skanky stripper or a dodgy builder). As for it being some kind of reflection on what a bad friend you are (if you report it), this person is committing a crime! A crime which is costing a country on the verge of bankruptcy money.

OP I'd be appalled at the injustice too. Report it.

porcamiseria · 02/03/2012 10:32

do nothing

solidgoldbrass · 02/03/2012 10:33

Oh mind your own bloody business. She may not even be earning enough to pay tax.

bibbityisaporker · 02/03/2012 10:36

As a life-long lefty who is extremely laid back to the point of being horizontal about almost everything, I kind of envy the people who say they honestly do not care about benefits cheats and tax evaders. This sort of thing really does bother me, I loathe all cheating, find it despicable, but I hate the Daily Mail overtones that go along with that.

WibblyBibble · 02/03/2012 10:42

You should try and get her employers name out of her and report him. She's getting screwed over here as much as 'the genuine taxpayer' because she should be getting NI paid and things so she can then claim benefits/pension if she needs them in the future. Employers who do this are the lowest form of scum and are damaging the UK economy. They are certainly not innocent underdogs, and a strip club is definitely not a 'struggling small business'. Not that I think it's right that some people can get paid because they are born pretty while others who have worked to gain qualifications are left unemployed by our frivolity-skewed economy, but that's beside the point compared to how her employer is screwing her over.

PandaWatch · 02/03/2012 10:50

Wibbly - strip clubs aren't generally employers. Strippers pay a fee to work in the clubs

Mandy2003 · 02/03/2012 10:51

OP @ 00.09.42

You're that (ex) A4E woman aren't you, the luxury commune one!

Sorry, that's just what your description of your other housemates reminded me of!