Posted on 09/29/2006 2:31:40 PM PDT by Doctor Raoul
September 08, 2006
What would Bono do? Probably dodge taxes
By RICK de YAMPERT
VOX POP Dante, in his 14th-century epic "The Inferno," consigned hypocrites to the eighth circle of hell.
I'm wondering if I should pack Bono's suitcase and book him a trip to Dante's eighth circle. Bono, the U2 singer who has railed against governments for not contributing more funds to Third World nations, is a tax dodger.
Last month, the media in U2's native Ireland and across Europe were buzzing with the news that U2 had transferred its music publishing business to the Netherlands. The move came after the Irish government ended tax exemptions for artists in Ireland -- including an exemption for songwriting royalties (tours and performances were never covered by the exemption).
According to the Irish Voice, the move will save the rock band 15 million euros (about $19.2 million) this year in taxes -- taxes that would have gone into the coffers of the Irish government, the government Bono chided during a U2 concert in Dublin last year for reneging on a commitment to give 0.7 percent of Ireland's annual GDP to Africa.
If U2 were mere hedonistic rock stars, few would question the tax dodge. It's a perfectly legal move, one that you and I and almost everyone would make to pocket more lucre.
But U2, especially frontman Bono, always have been about fighting social injustice and embracing moral causes, whether in their music or during their lives away from the rock biz.
Bono is the driving force behind the organization One: The Campaign to Make Poverty History. Bono's work to reduce poverty and AIDS in Africa has landed him audiences with world leaders, including President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pope John Paul II.
Last year, Time magazine named Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates its Persons of the Year.
U2's moral-spiritual stance has been chronicled in such books as "Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog" and "One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God." Churches have offered services with themes drawn from U2's music.
Now we U2 fans who admire their music and their passionate, if quixotic, moral stances -- we who would ask ourselves WWBD: What would Bono do? -- have cause to pause.
I've encountered many people who label Bono a poseur and resent being "preached at" by a mere rock star.
But I've always believed Bono is sincere. I'd point out Bono confronts, in lyrics and in interviews, the contradictions and absurdities of a rock star out to save the world.
"I don't believe in riches, but you should see where I live," Bono sang in "God Part II."
Well, it looks as if he does believe in riches.
Bruce Springsteen once said he was glad he never met his idol, Elvis. A meeting inevitably would have exposed human foibles and led to disappointment, Springsteen said, adding he expects artists to live up to their ideals in their art, not in their personal lives.
The answer to that question -- What would Bono do? -- is: What any person would do.
I'm disappointed Bono talks the talk but doesn't always walk the walk in the real world. But, akin to the Boss, I still expect Bono to live up to his ideals in his music.
Rick de Yampert is The Daytona Beach News-Journal's entertainment writer. He can be reached at rick.deyampert@news-jrnl.com
C'mon, some people are more equal than others dont you know?
Millionaire Marxists like Norm Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans, etc...
Are we surprised?
Liberals always expect somebody else to pay the taxes.
Liberals drive large cars themselves, but think that third-world babies should stop breathing to prevent global warming and save the planet.
Liberals are people who know what's good for you--but not for them, of course, because they're special.
It's so easy to commit Other People's Money
I have no problem with Bono, or anyone else, legally avoiding paying taxes. It's his money. He earned it. He should be able to keep the lion's share of it without the mass vacuum cleaner of government sucking it out him.
Rock on, Bono.
Bono is an idiot anyway. The world has been pouring money down the African sh#$t hole for decades with no results. Africa must eliminate all the communists, dictators, and radical Muslim governments before they will ever prosper. I don't see it happening in this lifetime.
Nor does the author of the article. He takes issue with Bono's hypocrisy on many matters.
I still haven't found the tax haven I'm looking for!!!
Please, point out the hypocrisy.
L
Hypocrites.
Rich folks, like Harry Bellefonte, telling us to take care of the poor so they don't have to use their own wealth. The entertainers and intellectuals denouncing the very system that gave them stature.
Rock and roll ping
(Yet another example of liberal hypocrisy)
Hypocrisy?
I guess I'm a hypocrite, too. I take every legal tax dodge that I can to avoid being bled dry by the out of control tax and spend machine in Washington (and my state and city. And county.)
screw bono and and U2...their music sucks and so do their politics....Bono is always preaching that the US txpayers (suckers) should contribute more to world poverty....the US should contribute about the same percentage that this smug hypocrite contributes....nothing times nothing is still nothing!...what a fraud...just like all socialist libs & dems!!!
I thought Bono's God wasn't short of cash.
This is like the Kennedy family saying that death taxes shouldn't be reduced or eliminated, but hiding their money in trusts and even claiming that Rose Kennedy was a resident of Florida when she hadn't left Massachusetts for ten years to avoid the Massachusetts estate tax.
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