[GJM] [Intertax] The tax efficient Mr Bono - International Herald Tribune

[robert searle]

--- Christensen tjn <Christensen.tjn at neweconomics.org>
wrote:

> Rearrange the following words:  hypocrite   bloody
>  
> If Mr Bono plans to strut his stuff at Davos again
> in January 2007, can I suggest that our Swiss and
> German colleagues plan to make a huge fuss about his
> 'tax efficient' arrangements.  jc
>  
> International Herald Tribune
> 
> U2 defends move to avoid Irish tax raise 
> 
> By Fergal O'Brien Bloomberg News
>  <http://img.iht.com/images/article/spacer.gif> 
> Published: October 17, 2006
> 	
>  
> DUBLIN  Bono, the rock star and campaigner against
> third-world debt, is asking the Irish government to
> contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he is
> reducing tax payments that could help finance that
> aid. 
>  
> After Ireland said it would scrap a break that lets
> musicians and artists avoid paying taxes on
> royalties, Bono and his fellow U2 band members this
> year moved their music publishing company to the
> Netherlands. The group, which Forbes estimates
> earned $110 million in 2005, will pay about a 5
> percent tax on their royalties in the Netherlands,
> less than half the Irish rate. 
>  
> "Among the wealthiest people, I suppose it's the
> norm," said Jill Cassidy, who was walking on South
> King Street near a plaque marking the site of the
> Dandelion market, where U2 played some of its
> earliest concerts. "In U2's position, it does come
> across as quite hypocritical." 
>  
> The tax move has tainted the image in Ireland of
> Bono and U2. Now promoting a new DVD, book and
> album, the band is fighting back. David Evans, the
> guitarist known as The Edge, this month defended the
> publishing company's move as a sensible decision for
> a group that makes 90 percent of its money outside
> Ireland. 
>  
> "Our business is a very complex business," Evans
> said Oct. 2 on the Dublin radio station Newstalk,
> breaking the band's silence after weeks of public
> criticism. "Of course we're trying to be
> tax-efficient. Who doesn't want to be
> tax-efficient?" 
>  
> As residents of Ireland, members of U2 remain liable
> for personal income taxes, and any Irish-based
> companies they control will pay taxes on their
> profits. 
>  
> Principle Management, U2's management company,
> declined to comment when Bloomberg News asked for a
> statement from Bono. 
>  
> Bono, who was born in Dublin, has been mentioned as
> a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize since 2003.
> The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the
> 2006 prize to Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank in
> Bangladesh for advancing social and economic
> development by giving loans to the poor. 
>  
> Bono, 46, has toured Africa, established the
> pressure group Debt AIDS Trade Africa and become one
> of the most vocal supporters of the Make Poverty
> History campaign. In July 2005, he helped persuade
> world leaders to double aid for Africa to $50
> billion a year by 2010 and erase the debt of the 18
> poorest countries on the continent. 
>  
> "I can see no connection between what he is doing
> and Make Poverty History," said Richard Murphy, a
> director at the Tax Research organization in Britain
> and an author of the book "Money Matters: Artist's
> Financial Guide." 
>  
> "He is setting a poor example by his tax affairs,"
> Murphy said. 
>  
> At a concert last year in Croke Park, the biggest
> stadium in Dublin, Bono appealed to Prime Minister
> Bertie Ahern to raise foreign aid to 0.7 percent of
> the gross domestic product by 2007 from 0.5 percent
> now. The crowd responded by booing Ahern. 
>  
> The political catcalls have now turned on Bono. 
>  
> "It seems odd, in a situation where they enjoy an
> already favorable tax regime, they would move
> operations to the Netherlands to get an even more
> favorable rate," said Joan Burton, finance
> spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party. 
>  
> For years, Bono and U2 got a better deal than most
> Irish taxpayers because songwriters paid no tax on
> earnings from music publishing. That will change
> next year, when Ireland limits the tax exemption,
> which also applies to writers and artists. From Jan.
> 1, artists who make more than EUR500,000, or
> $625,000, a year will pay tax on half their
> "creative" income, according to the Irish Revenue
> Authority. 
>  
> Remaining in Ireland would have forced Bono to pay a
> 42 percent tax on such earnings. Alternatively, the
> band could have channeled profits through a company
> to pay the 12.5 percent corporation tax. 
>  
> Some fans accept the band's explanation of its tax
> planning because U2 has been generous in the past. 
>  
> _
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