Idolator
In the good old days of rock-star tax-dodging, anyone hoping to avoid the government simply had to to hole up in a private French estate with a bag of heroin and Gram Parsons. But as U2 and the Rolling Stones have discovered, it's now much easier to launder funnel money through Holland, where the government is eager to set up new "mailbox companies," and where artists can enjoy extremely liberal royalty-tax laws. That's all well and good if you're a greedy git like Mick Jagger, but it's created something of an image problem for saint-in-traning Bono:
Last June, with the Irish tax break [for artists] about to shrink, U2 heeded the advice of its longtime business manager, Paul McGuinness, and moved its most lucrative asset — a song-publishing catalog with hits like "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "It's A Beautiful Day" — from Mr. McGuinness's firm, located near the Liffey River in Dublin, to Promogroup, which operates beside the elegant Herengracht canal in the heart of elegant, old Amsterdam...
"Ethically in my opinion, Bono's tax arrangements are entirely inconsistent with his calls upon government to support anti-poverty drives," said Richard Murphy, who runs Tax Research LLC, a research institute based in Norfolk, England, and was one of three co-authors of the SOMO report on Dutch tax shelters. "You cannot be demanding that resources be allocated to anti-poverty drives and then deny those resources to government."
Other tax experts say that such views are overly prim and that rock stars are simply following the leads of some of the world's biggest companies. U2 and the Stones "are taking advantage of this in the same way that all the drug companies are putting all their patents in favorable tax jurisdictions," said Prof. Michael J. Graetz of Yale, an authority on tax shelters and a self-described die-hard Rolling Stones fan. "I wouldn't go so far as to say it's fair, but it's not shocking either."
We're sure Bono will cringe at that last quote—nothing hurts your cool-guy cred more than being compared to a Pfizer CEO—but don't expect him to pull out of Amsterdam anytime soon: As much as those limousine-liberal accusations may sting, not even Gandhi himself would turn down the opportunity to make a few extra pennies on those Zooropa baby-tees.
Comments
Sorry to state the obvious, but...remember George Harrison? For a guy who wanted to save Bangla Desh, he did an awful lot of bitching about tax rates in the United Kingdom, too.
Just sayin': bleeding-heart limey rock stars, and tax dodges - a match made in rock n' roll heaven.
I don't see dodging taxes as necessarily inconsistent with Bono's (or Harrison's) desire to have more money donated to 3rd world countries to help with development. Bono could reframe it as a call for action: "Hey, Ireland, send more money to Africa or I'm taking my tax dollars to Holland."
Or he could pledge to donate the difference in his tax bills straight to the charities he wants the government to support. "If Ireland won't give money to the Namibia, then I'll just do it myself."
Re: Harrison. Again, I don't see the connection. How did paying the ridiculous English taxes of the seventies help the people of Bangladesh?
Re: Harrison. Again, I don't see the connection. How did paying the ridiculous English taxes of the seventies help the people of Bangladesh?
Oh, sorry -- it didn't, and I wasn't attacking Harrison. Simply pointing out that the stereotype of the bleeding-heart progressive rock star also looking to avoid absurd tax rates (i.e. the "limousine liberal" tag above) is nothing new, and it doesn't say much about said star's politics. I too believe both Harrison's and Bono's sincerity (even if the latter is a little, um...louder about his convictions).
Love it. On the other hand, Bono's still doing more for the downtrodden than, say, the whole Bush Administration. I guess, who needs politicians when we have megalomaniacal rock stars.
Whatever happened to Pete the Chop?
I think that maybe, just maybe Bono is smart enough that he does this angel/devil stuff to keep people's idolatry in check. You know, keeping it human, not saintly.
No wait, he's just self-righteous and greedy like the rest of us.
it doesn't say much about said star's politics
I think it does though. It's a bit rich to ask foreign governments to forgive massive debts when you're not even willing to pair your own fair share of taxes to support public services in the country you live in.
Nicolars - I don't think it's "a bit rich." If Bono keeps his money because his priorities aren't the same as the Irish goverment's then he's not being hypocritical at all.
All of this is dependent, of course, on him donating plenty of money to the charities he mouths support for. It would be a bit rich if he whined that Ireland needs to support Africa, dodged his taxes, and then spent every dime on sunglasses and hats.
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