U2 Tax Hypocrites

[Provost Harrison]

Isn't it interesting how it is those with the most money, and capable of making the largest financial contribution, have the greatest means of escaping such responsibility. It's a shame this society can't get together and sort this out

[Dauphin]

Vote for European tax harmonisation.

[Drake Tungsten]

Bono

Evading taxes

[Dauphin]

Tax evasion is illegal.

Tax avoidance is totally legit.

[Drake Tungsten]

My bad.

Tax avoidance

[Saras]

Originally posted by Dauphin
Vote for European tax harmonisation.

...with Baltic flat taxes

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Dauphin
Vote for European tax harmonisation.

As long as it isn't harmonised with Sweden, I am fine

[Berzerker]

but surely it would only be hypocritical if he didn't contribute through other means.

Other means are voluntary, the state aint... Telling politicians to spend more while you're protecting your wallet looks bad. But since he pays so much in taxes already, advice on spending priorities while avoiding a big tax hit may not qualify as hypocrisy.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Isn't it interesting how it is those with the most money, and capable of making the largest financial contribution, have the greatest means of escaping such responsibility. It's a shame this society can't get together and sort this out

Hey go communist and everyone will be poor and unable to avoid taxes. Or paying them.

[Killuminati]

I hate Bono in general. With his personal fortune, he could personally relieve the foreign debt of easily a half dozen African countries and still have millions left over to live luxuriously, but does he do it? No, he wants you to do it for him while *****ing and whining about the evil politicians who don't do as much as they can.

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by Berzerker
But since he pays so much in taxes already

He doesn't, that's the point, at least not in Ireland. The tax regime here is pretty pragmatic and recognises that the very wealthy can afford to pay for expert advice on evading tax liability and so tries to settle for getting something out of them without driving their money elsewhere.

The change in the law was to cap the amount artists could earn for "creating" works. For artists with much less money than U2 they still don't get taxed. Those who do make a lot (and there aren't many of them) now have some tax liability they didn't before.

The annoying thing about this is that the Irish government is one of the few countries that has genuinely been trying to reach the target of giving 0.7% of GDP in aid and may yet manage to do so. The aid it gives is generally without strings, unlike many other countries. Bono has never, to my knowledge, said anything positive about what the Irish government does with his tax money.

Apparently a case of do as I say, not as I do.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Sikander


Hey go communist and everyone will be poor and unable to avoid taxes. Or paying them.

Everybody will be of average income, I think you'll find

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison


Everybody will be of average income, I think you'll find

Yes, the average being dirt poor.