SWEDEN — Economic times are tough all over, even in infamously tax happy Sweden. In the search for more funds to fuel the engines of government, the country’s tax authorities are checking out the domestic web cam talent; not for prurient enjoyment, of course, but in hopes of finding some tax cheats. Officials contend that hundreds of Swedish women are working as webcam performers without paying tax on their income and it has cost the country about 40m kronor ($4,833,000 US) annually.

So far, 200 performers have been investigated, with a total of 500 within the government’s sites.

“They are young girls,” project leader Dag Hardyson explained to BBC News. “We think that perhaps they are not well informed about the rules.”

According to Hardyson, the performers are only part of a larger plan to shake tax money from online money makers including those who play internet poker or operate from false trading locations.

Unlike prostitution, webcam sex is legal in Sweden – and those who pursue it as a career need to turn over approximately half of their earnings as tax revenue.

Hardyson, who indicated that identifying specific performers was difficult due to incomplete website information, believes that most of those being pursued use the money earned for frivolities.

“I don’t think they have any costs, really. Almost 100-percent of what they earn is pocketed,” he opined. “Many have regular work and this is extra income. We want them to register their activity as a business. It’s still taxable, even if it’s a hobby.”

Perhaps most surprising in a nation whose security rests so heavily upon taxation, Hardyson reveals that the existence of webcam girl revenue was a mystery until Dutch tax authorities brought up the subject.