STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Taking your clothes off for a living can be one way to get rich quick, but Swedish strippers could be landed with a hefty bill if they fail to declare their income, a top tax official said Thursday.
Dag Hardyson, the Swedish Tax Authority's national project leader on Internet trade, said investigators were stepping up their hunt for those stripping live on Swedish websites in a bid to claw back lost tax revenues.
"We had to do something. We want all these girls to be compliant with the system," he told AFP.
Authorities estimate the market for live webcam sites is worth close to 40 million kronor (3.7 million euros, 4.8 million dollars), meaning the Swedish taxman misses out on over 20 million kronor in unpaid dues.
Hardyson said they uncovered 200 strippers working on the Web who were not reporting their earnings. Officials believe between 300 and 500 girls in Sweden make their living in this way, but there is no record of any of them filing a tax return.
"These are young girls so of course it could be a problem with information of how to be compliant," Hardyson said, adding most of them were under the age of 25.
Hardyson and his team made regular visits to porn sites as they tried to trace the tax-dodging strippers.
"We had to do some manual work as well. We identified the websites, then we visited the websites. We looked at the girls and then downloaded their contact information and their pictures," Hardyson said.
Investigators charged with surfing the web and making new visits to the sites every week found that the frequency of tax evasion was "an increasing problem."
But Hardyson brushed off suggestions that the clampdown on Internet strippers could kill an industry where all participants value anonymity.
"That's not really our problem. They must be compliant (with Swedish tax law) and that's why we are looking at it," he said.
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