Posted on 04/23/2009 1:48:23 PM PDT by dennisw
U2 front man Bono came under fire today from campaigners who claim he his not putting his money where his mouth is.
The human rights activist was accused of robbing the world's poorest people by storing some of his wealth in a tax haven.
Bono impersonator Paul O'Toole joined protesters outside the Irish Department of Finance on the eve of the launch of the band's new album No Line On The Horizon in the Irish Republic.
Campaign group the Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI) claimed the supergroup was depriving the Irish exchequer of much-needed revenue which could be spent on overseas aid.
It claimed that despite Bono's fight to help the world's poor, he had joined a list of individuals and corporations who have denied impoverished governments millions through tax avoidance or evasion.
DDCI's Nessa Ni Chasaide called on Bono to give his view on the impact of tax injustice on the impoverished world.
"We wanted to raise our concern that while Bono has championed the cause of fighting poverty and injustice in the impoverished world, the fact is that his band has moved part of its business to a tax shelter in the Netherlands," she said.
"Tax avoidance and tax evasion costs the impoverished world at least 160 million US dollars every year. This is money urgently required to bring people out of poverty.
"U2 is just one part of the problem. This is a much wider and systemic problem in our global financial system. Every company and individual has the responsibility to pay the right amount of tax."
The rock band moved the company U2 Ltd, set up to deal with royalty payments, to a finance house in Holland in 2006 after the Irish Government scrapped an artist income tax exemption scheme. The new limit was capped at 250,000 euro (£223,000).
Accounts for 2007 show U2 Ltd paid out more than 21 million euro (£19m) in wages.
Mr O'Toole also launched a mock version of one of U2's greatest hits, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, taunting the band for the move overseas.
Oxfam and Concern Worldwide are among 70 organisations involved in the coalition, which met Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan before protesters gathered.
"We have tax treaties with other countries that regulate where you pay tax," said Mr Lenihan.
"There is a problem with smaller countries that have to set up deliberate tax havens. We are raising that at EU level."
Andy Storey from justice group Afri said tax was a fundamental question of global justice.
"Lost taxes in impoverished countries far outweigh what they receive from rich countries in aid," he added.
"There are trillions of dollars stashed in tax havens. If that money was taxed in the countries where it was earned, governments would have their own resources to improve the lives of their people."
Liberals are in favor of higher taxes....because they don’t pay them.
Charity begins and ends with OPM.
"Other people's money."
He worked hard for his, and nobody has the right to take it from him for any purpose, no matter how noble.
FINALLY!! Everyone needs to go after this bum. Pay Up, Deadbeat!! Maybe he can feed all of Africa on his money. Then I might applaud him.
"Tax avoidance and tax evasion costs the impoverished world at least 160 million US dollars every year. This is money urgently required to bring people out of poverty.
Apparently it counts for little that Bono donates money to charity bypassing the bloated bureaucrats therefore getting more money to the people for whom it's intended.
Surely you jest?
ping
Remember ‘Farm Aide’, seems is was just a money raising event for the BANDS! The ‘Farmer’ received the customary 10% of proceeds. That’s still ‘charity’.. but it looks really bad.
He doesn’t HAVE the record, he IS the record....
The Irish multi-millionaire has always been WAY too active in trying to direct the tax dollars of much poorer Americans to the the Lost Continent of Africa.
Bono and U2 are the biggest tax avoidence frauds probably in Ireland and one of the biggest in Europe. Their music is so lame.
I reject the presumption that government can lift anyone out of poverty. I would say that government is the problem in these poor countries through corruption.
And meanwhile, The Edge is fighting his neighbors in Malibu so he can reengineer a hillside and put more homes in on his seaside property. All while telling us how bad for the environment we are.
The resulting battle is popcorn worthy as the libs battle for most rightous position.
And his concerts are a virtual atomic bomb of CO2.
I love how the article just assumes that his (and everyone else’s) tax money belong to “the world’s poor”, certainly not to fund the constitutional requirements of Ireland and other countries. A bunch of communistic crap.
Los Angeles (E! Online) – You might say The Edge is having boundary issues.
The U2 guitarist’s plans to build five mountaintop mansions in Malibu with fantastic oceanside views is facing fierce opposition from some famous NIMBYs concerned the homes will be an environmental catastrophe.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the proposed project would be built above homes belonging to the likes of Dick Van Dyke, Kelsey Grammer and James Cameron and would require some extensive and tricky engineering, including extension of a road down a rugged elevation, grading 70,000 cubic yards of hillside and installing water lines.
“The downside of this is a permanently scarred mountainside for the benefit of a very few that for many years all will view,” Jefferson Wagner, a Malibu councilman, told the newspaper. “For somebody so revered even to be orchestrating this type of development in such a sensitive area is hypocritical.”
The Edge, whose real name is David Evans, promises development on the properties will address those concerns with care.
“My family and I love Malibu, having maintained a residence here for more than a decade,” he told the Times. “These homes will be some of the most environmentally sensitive ever designed in Malibu—or anywhere in the world. I’m disappointed that certain critics either don’t have the facts or have ulterior motives.”
The Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has “certificates of compliance” from Los Angeles County establishing that the land he owns meets all legal requirements.
Edge added that he and Irish real estate investor Derek Quinlan plan to take up residence in two of the homes and most likely flip the other three, which has rankled some neighbors whose peace and quiet will be rattled by all the building.
The California Coastal Commission is expected to review the environmental impact of the project in June.
This is not the first fight Evans has found himself in with neighbors.
He and the rest of U2 came under fire in their hometown of Dublin for now defunct plans to build the so-called U2 Tower, a proposed skyscraper in the heart of the city that would’ve been the tallest in Ireland. Preservationists claimed the $220 million project would have resulted in the tearing down of four adjacent historic buildings.
No...... Bono is assuming your money belongs to the world’s poor so please fork it over
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