The IRS lien added another layer. Tax obligations that had accrued during the years of the Revue, for whatever combination of reasons the IRS identified, became her responsibility in whole or in part under the settlement terms. The IRS doesn’t negotiate with divorce courts; its claims exist independently of whatever the parties agree between themselves. Taking on an IRS lien meant taking on a federal obligation that would need to be resolved regardless of the economic situation she was in when the settlement was finalized.
The result was that she emerged from the divorce with a set of obligations that couldn’t be deferred or reorganized: they had to be paid. The food stamps and the small clubs weren’t simply a reflection of a slow period in her career — they were the practical consequence of a debt service that required income to service and an earning capacity that was, in those early post-divorce years, limited by the state of her career.
The accounts that describe this period tend to emphasize the symbolic humiliation of the fall from marquee attraction to Holiday Inn performer, but the practical reality was simpler and harder: she needed money to pay debts she had inherited from a marriage she had escaped with her life, and the way she generated money was by performing wherever anyone would book her. The Chitlin’ Circuit had trained her to perform every night regardless of the venue. The training was useful.
What is notable about this period, in retrospect, is what she didn’t do. She didn’t change her name. She didn’t try to rebrand under a different professional identity that might make it easier to rebuild without the Ike and Tina Turner association. She performed as Tina Turner, in small venues, until the small venues became medium venues and the medium venues became arenas.