Should Bono Pay More Taxes?
As rock stars go, Bono and U2 are in the one percent of the one-percenters. They already pay a ton in taxes, although there’s always been the debate as to whether they pay enough.
Remember how U2 moved their business operations out of Ireland into the Netherlands because the Dutch offered a more competitive tax environment? U2’s move wasn’t in any way illegal–jurisdictions compete on tax rates all the time at all levels of society–but many questioned the morality of a band as big as U2 (and one with such a social conscience) skipping down in order to save a few euros. Or maybe this is just a case of class envy from the left.
Either way, the BBC had this report on what the Irish thing about Bono’s tax situation.
I quote JK Rowling
“I am indebted to the British welfare state; the very one that Mr Cameron would like to replace with charity handouts. When my life hit rock bottom, that safety net, threadbare though it had become under John Major’s Government, was there to break the fall. I cannot help feeling, therefore, that it would have been contemptible to scarper for the West Indies at the first sniff of a seven-figure royalty cheque. This, if you like, is my notion of patriotism. On the available evidence, I suspect that it is Lord Ashcroft’s idea of being a mug”