U2 singer Bono said in a newspaper interview published today that he is hurt by criticism of the band’s decision to move part of its business to the Netherlands to lessen its tax burden.
The Irish band, one of the world’s richest rock groups, shifted part of its business following a 2006 decision by the Dublin government to put a cap on tax-free earnings available under a special scheme for artists.
U2 have been criticised by politicians and some development groups.
“We pay millions and millions of dollars in tax,” Bono told the Irish Times newspaper. “The thing that stung us (about the criticism) was the accusation of hypocrisy for my work as an activist.”
Bono suggested there was a double standard involved in welcoming international investment in financial services in Ireland while criticising Irish entities that operate abroad.
“I can understand how people outside the country wouldn’t understand how Ireland got to its prosperity but everybody in Ireland knows that there are some very clever people in the government and in the Revenue (department) who created a financial architecture that prospered the entire nation – it was a way of attracting people to this country who wouldn’t normally do business here.”
U2 have an estimated combined fortune of £487 million (€545 million), according to a rich list compiled by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper in 2007.
Speaking about a 2007 Christian Aid report which criticised him for “tax avoidance”, Bono said: “It hurts when the criticism comes in internationally.
“But I can’t speak up without betraying my relationship with the band. “People who don’t know our music, it’s very easy for them to take a position on us – they run with the stereotypes and caricature of us.”
U2 were one of the biggest beneficiaries of an Irish tax-free scheme for artists introduced in 1969.
But a cap of 250,000 euros on tax-free incomes was imposed in 2006.
Bono has been awarded an honorary knighthood by Britain and the Legion D’Honneur by France for his Third World anti-poverty campaigning.
Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI), a group which campaigns on issues related to the developing world, protested Wednesday outside the Irish foreign ministry about U2’s tax affairs.
DDCI said it was “challenging the band to put their money where their mouth is and support global tax justice.”
U2 are currently promoting their new album No Line on the Horizon.
AFP