Reporting housemate's tax evasion

[stripper4cash]

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.

This government must be wetting themselves about the way they have managed to get "ordinary people" to turn on each other instead of actually holding those accountable for the mess we are in responsible or demanding that the real issues are tackled.

It's incredible how well its been done

catgirl, interesting article in the Guardian you might like "Bash the poor and wave the flag ? how this Tory trick works"

The gist of it is that the Tories are taking a leaf out of the US Republican's book.

For years the Republicans have managed to get people to vote against their own financial interests, not by actually engaging them in debate about the economy, but by deliberately focusing on "cultural anxieties" they know will get people going - abortion and gay marriage in their case. The idea is that the politicians aren't actually that bothered about abortion issues or gay marriage in themselves, instead they are using these issues as tools to distract people so they don't notice they're being royally fucked over actually voting against their own interests.

The author of this article reckons Cameron's up to the same trick, only the difference is that the "cultural anxieties" that get us going are benefits and nationalism.

He says

"This week saw proof that Britain is no longer merely suffering from anaemic growth but actual contraction, a shrinkage of 0.2%. One more dose of this, and we will be in official recession. And yet a day earlier the Guardian/ICM poll showed the Conservatives surging into a five-point lead over Labour, their highest rating for nearly two years. "

and

"Thus the memorable political conflict of this week was not over that contraction in GDP, which should have registered as devastating proof that the government's economic strategy is not working. It was over plans to cap benefits at £26,000. The timing may have been a function of the House of Lords' timetable, but the strategy of the cap itself is clear. Rather than training its guns on the masters of high finance who caused the crash and had to be bailed out with billions in taxpayers' cash ? the scroungers at the top ? the government is channelling our rage towards those on benefits, the "scroungers" at the bottom."

and

"Bashing benefit claimants and waving the flag gets the polls numbers up ? and all the while the economy tanks and the banks get to keep paying out bonuses. It works like a charm."

Thanks alice really interesting - going to read that now

Alice the horse- that article was very good.
It's the same thing as I am screaming at the TV when they do vox pops about workfare and people are parroting stuff about the unemployed being lazy and feckless and shouldn't expect something for nothing. The government have managed to get people to turn on the poor sods who have no jobs and ignore the unemployment statistics and Tesco et al's tax avoidance- all of which are the government's failings. It makes my blood boil it does
OP- your flatmate's a stripper. If I were you I'd seel sorry for her rather than get her deported.

The thing is, for those saying "don't turn on each other" it's actually a bit 'broken windows' theory in my mind - it's not acceptable to not pay tax, that goes for individuals and for massive companies. Those talking about Amazon not paying tax, that's also bloody annoying, but the principle is exactly the same, I can't get my head round why you get people who get worked up about the Phillip Greens of this world but who think it's ok for people who earn a lot less to get away with the same thing.

I do believe there's such thing as society, I don't believe you should just look out for yourself, I believe society only works when everyone feels that everyone else is 'pulling their weight' - because when it becomes ok for builders and strippers to not pay tax, it becomes ok for other people to look for loopholes, and where does the line get drawn when it's not acceptable? when your tax bill should be £10k, £100k, £1m? In a similar way, when you think it's likely that people who are claiming benefits don't really deserve them and are 'cheating the system' then it becomes easier to justify dodging tax yourself, or to vote for people who will lower those amounts.

Not really Lydia

I pay higher rate tax - I don't avoid or evade any of it. I vote for people who would have me pay more tax.

I care about people who have a lot not paying in - I don't care about people who have very little not paying in because they are generally getting shafted by those at the top, so I don't blame them.

Plus I doubt I know the ins and outs of every persons individual circumstances so I don't seek to judge them and I certainly don't seek to harm or hurt others by reporting them out of petty bitterness or a misguided and misinformed view of "society"

Everyone looking out for each other is not the same thing as everyone turning each other into the police at every opportunity!

1984

Exactly!

I too am shocked at the amount of people saying to do nothing. I really do sympathise as she is clearly so close to home (at home in fact!).

At the end of the day she is stealing from the country. Would it be ok if she stole from Tesco or someone's house? No?, well clearly it's not ok that she is stealing from the country.

Bloody hell, it does piss me off that some people find it fine to go against the rules of our society and think it's ok. And half of you are condoning it.... Amazing :-(

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools :)

I know you're not trying to provoke and are probably trying to say that with tongue in cheek but it really pisses me off when people take all the rights that come with being in a society but ignore the associated responsibilities that come with.

Grrrr, will leave before I get too wound up!!