What do you suppose the percentage is of strippers who pay income tax is??? NO, I DON'T WORK FOR THE I.R.S. I've gotten into this conversation with probably half a dozon dancers. They either answer with, "I don't pay any taxes." or, "I report only part of my income." I have never come across any who reported thier 'full' income. And, I'd be willing to bet that there are very few who do.
In reality all the clubs should treat the wait staff and dancers the same and pay them the minimum wage for that profession which I think is $2.25 / hour - then the additional tips are the responsibility of the waitress or dancer. The reason that they should is it gets them off the hook with the IRS. The reason they don't is that then the dancers become employees and you have work comp issues, drug issues - which exist already but would have to be enforced consistently and other things they don't want to deal with.
As I've explained many times before it is pretty much SOP in tipped professions, from stripper to waiter to bartender, that you don't report all of your income, just enough to avoid an audit. That is however changing as more places have a better paper trail for the IRS to follow.
A closely related issue is accounting for their time when applying for a "real" job. When my ATF quit dancing, I helped her write a resume. Needless to say we had to be somewhat creative. I'm guessing that some dancers have other part-time jobs partly so that they can report a small income and also so they can someday account for their time. That's probably a smart thing to do.
I don't know the answer either, but I'd be willing to guess that fewer than 10% of them even know how much they earn, they don't keep records, so paying accurate taxes is impossible. Of course the same thing is probably true of waitresses and bartenders. Or anyone else whose income is strictly cash. You'd have to be nuts to keep accurate records, unless you had a lot of expenses you could deduct and ran it like a real business.
My experience is close to 0 pay any. I'm a CPA by education and I've had this conversation with a few of them. Told them to make quarterly payments on at least a little of what they make, deduct the club payouts etc. I had one complaining about not being able to get a car and another about getting charged 25% (yes) interest to buy a car. That's where lots of these girls get taken advantage of.
SexKitten wants to bitch and moan about explotation of these women, well in many cases they bring it on themselves. I had a dancer who talked to me a lot when I was in town who was in an auto accident. The insurance company for the other driver paid some, very few of her medical bills but wouldn't pay her lost time since she couldn't prove her earnings.
Yoda: I have a freind in the wholesale car business and he couldn't help her. Supposedly a dealer has offered to give her a loan if she puts $9000 down on the car. Who knows what kind of interest. I'm guessing around 20%.
Actually I know at least a half dozen dancers who have purchased very expensive vehicles with no pay stubs and no tax returns. If you show up with a four or five thousand dollar cash down payment and no previous bad credit history there is not a car dealership in the world that won't find financing for you.
I came across this situation recently. A dancer freind of mine wanted to get a new car loan without paystubs or any kind of shown income. The club gave her a form letter. What loan company or bank officer in their right mind would give this girl a $20,000 loan?
I once talked with a dancer who claimed to make estimated payments (as they all should be doing, since they are independent contractors who do not otherwise have withholding taken from their compensation.) I took the fact that she knew what estimated payments were to be an indication that she was paying them.
I suspect most dancers don't report all their income, athough some report a minimal amount...maybe 18K on a 50-70K income. A favorite of mine lives with her boyfriend, who makes good jack, and she reports nothing. I have warned her that this might hurt her in getting a car or home loan, but she in confident in their relationship, and figures his reported income will get them through.
A few times I have heard of dancers who had some personal injury claim (a couple of times due to car accidents, once due to alleged medical malpractice( who found that they had screwed themselved on their claim for lost wages--because an insurance company and a jury are going to hold you to the money you told the government that you were making, not the higher figure you testify to in court.
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I don't even know why I know this....who cares.
SexKitten wants to bitch and moan about explotation of these women, well in many cases they bring it on themselves. I had a dancer who talked to me a lot when I was in town who was in an auto accident. The insurance company for the other driver paid some, very few of her medical bills but wouldn't pay her lost time since she couldn't prove her earnings.
I suspect most dancers don't report all their income, athough some report a minimal amount...maybe 18K on a 50-70K income. A favorite of mine lives with her boyfriend, who makes good jack, and she reports nothing. I have warned her that this might hurt her in getting a car or home loan, but she in confident in their relationship, and figures his reported income will get them through.
A few times I have heard of dancers who had some personal injury claim (a couple of times due to car accidents, once due to alleged medical malpractice( who found that they had screwed themselved on their claim for lost wages--because an insurance company and a jury are going to hold you to the money you told the government that you were making, not the higher figure you testify to in court.