Bono Moves to Holland to Avoid Taxes

[Nemova]

It's interesting to notice a couple of things in this thread. First, many of you are blaming Bono and Bono alone for this move, like it's his fault. It's a business decision that involves the band as an enterprise. The band members are still living in Ireland and paying their taxes there. Second, there's nothing nice or cute or even righteous about paying a monstrous amount of tax. Any government that resorts to high taxes to sustain their economy is making a mistake. High tax equals low investments, which means less job openings and lower growth rates. Makes you wonder why Holland is the 16th largest economy of the world, huh?

 

[ultramarine]

Pfffft .. hed rather just move here ... I dont know a single costarican who declares taxes! -me/my parents/friends included-

 

[roppal222]

^^ Nemova I think out of context, you have a very valid point indeed, but if you take into acount Bono's own comments on taxes and his lobbying of Govt to contribute taxes to allievate global crisises as well as telling us to part with our money, and not currently paying into the system himself, it all just smacks a little of hypocritical.

To dismiss it as a band investment and a business move is neither here or there. Bono's not some sheep following the band...he's a very powerful man that knows what he's doing.

 

[Laska]

^ Agreed

 

[Erin]

Perhaps this was a decision made by U2's management...

 

[Nemova]

^^ Nemova I think out of context, you have a very valid point indeed, but if you take into acount Bono's own comments on taxes and his lobbying of Govt to contribute taxes to allievate global crisises as well as telling us to part with our money, and not currently paying into the system himself, it all just smacks a little of hypocritical.

To dismiss it as a band investment and a business move is neither here or there. Bono's not some sheep following the band...he's a very powerful man that knows what he's doing.

Quick question (not trying to put you on the spot here, I swear if you were a successful businesswoman with an annual income of say, 15 million euros, would you be willing to give more than 30% of that hard earned money to your government, knowing that only a wee part of it will be invested in education and public health? Wouldn't you much prefer re-investing that money on your enterprise, creating jobs and paying better salaries, ie making the world go round? Investing your money on the government (which paying taxes means, after all) isn't the safest bet. On the other hand, creating job openings is the most intelligent and efficient way to contribute to your country's economy. Increasing taxes scare investors away and take toll on economy.

I'm all for paying taxes if at decent, non-abusive rates.

 

[roppal222]

Like I said I take your point...and to answer your question, I'm fine with the amount of tax I pay so I continue and I can still have enough to invest in other things. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Bono and the band's Elevation Partners, has invested around £157m in Forbes ... hmmm that lil' bible of capitalism. They are an incredibly lucrative company with a ridiculous estimated capital value of $1.9bn... He's made big money through the band's sucess of course but also through claiming artists' tax relief as songwriters before Ireland introduced tax reforms. Now I'm really happy that he has all his money and lives his highlife and makes time to contribute charities I really do.

Buuuut......

It's the preaching of Bono that's the bone of contention.

I'm all for him quietly going about with his billions creating jobs, making investments, improving economy that way...but he doesn't. He preaches. I can't bear it.

Bono spends so much time courting big names for the world to see.... US presidents and other world leaders... He tells us all the importance of donating our money. In particular he has cajoled the Irish government to give more money to Ireland Aid and banged on to the rest of us plebs the importance of parting with our cash...and investing into the system... So when U2 then turn round and flee taxes, it's going to wind people up that he himself isn't prepared to contribute to hs own country on a fair basis along with the bulk of many other Irish taxpayers.

It's that double standard that gets me, regardless of what people think his intentions are behind it. You have to understand how this looks... Bono's always dodged the question of evading taxes and I'm sure if he provided the reasoning you have, he'd probably get away with it.

But if he doesn't explain it, and avoids answering the tax question, he should expect to be called a hypocrite.

 

[roppal222]

And just to note, people are always making for excuses for Bono.. Roger McNamee, from Elevation Partners is one in particular who's forever answering the hypocrisy. And to be fair, decent points are raised. I'll give them that. But they're never pushed by Bono himself. He's always 'unavailable for comment'.

So until Bono comes out and does a bit of talking, he just looks like some greedy hypocritical preachy idealistic rockstar who's looking for a free ride.

 

[Nemova]

Like I said I take your point...and to answer your question, I've made peace with the amount of tax I pay so I continue and I can still have enough to invest in other things. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Bono and the band's Elevation Partners, has invested around £157m in Forbes aka bible of capitalism. They are an incredibly lucrative company with a ridiculous estimated capital value of $1.9bn... He's made big money through the band's sucess of course but also through claiming artists' tax relief as songwriters before Ireland introduced tax reforms. Now I'm really happy that he has all his money and lives his highlife and makes time to contribute charities I really do.

Buuuut......

It's the preaching of Bono that's the bone of contention.

I'm all for him quietly going about with his billions creating jobs, making investments, improving economy that way...but he doesn't. He preaches. I can't bear it.

Bono spends so much time courting big names for the world to see.... US presidents and other world leaders... He tells us all the importance of donating our money. In particular he has cajoled the Irish government to give more money to Ireland Aid ... So when U2 then turn round and flee taxes, it's going to wind people up that he himself isn't prepared to contribute to hs own country on a fair basis along with the bulk of many other Irish taxpayers.

It's that double standard that gets me, regardless of what people think his intentions are behind it. You have to understand how this looks... Bono's always dodged the question of evading taxes and I'm sure if he provided the reasoning you have, he'd probably get away with it.

But if he doesn't explain it, and avoids answering the queston, he should expect to be called a hypocrite.

Well that's just not true. The band donates a considerable amount of money to aid organisations on a regular basis, and the royalties of some of their songs have been given to charities around the world, not to mention the people who work on their tours and his new enterprise, Edun. So Bono and his band mates are actually doing something, not just preaching and selling records.

I just think that people never cut Bono a slack. He's always a hypocrite, always self-righteous. People never see the good in what he does. I prefer him cajoling rich countries' governments rather than Angelina Jolie trying to buy Namibia.

 

[roppal222]

I'm aware Bono contributes to charities. I said that in my comment. But he is a preacher alongside it......

And wow, how can you praise Bono's charity on one hand, but then put down the charitable efforts of another person like Angelina Jolie....(someone else who ironically is never 'cut any slack') ...

That makes no sense to me.

 

[roppal222]

I think this is my cue to exit from the debate. Jolie's somehow managed to crop in. I can hear the lynch mob from here. I don't want this to turn into which celebrity's charity is better. Not my scene. I appreciate the efforts made by anyone to do their bit in the world....just less of the preaching is all I require.

 

[Nemova]

I'm aware Bono contributes to charities. I said that in my comment. But he is a preacher alongside it......

Where?

And wow, how can you praise Bono's charity on one hand, but then put down the charitable efforts of another person like Angelina Jolie....(someone else who ironically is never 'cut any slack') ...

That makes no sense to me.

Angeline Jolie, just like many other celebs, profits from her charity work, turning the attention she gets into more fame and status, ie more money in her already full pockets. She goes on and on about all the great things she does but then she sells pictures of her baby to a magazine, saying the profits will go to charity. Umm okay, but how about not exposing your daughter to unwanted public attention and separating your celebrity status from your social work? She might be raising consciousness about what happens in Africa but she's also making herself a more profitable bet for the movie industry to bank on.


Nicole Kidman said something really wise about Ms Jolie:

It's not like Angelina is any better than a nurse working in a hospital but she's getting the publicity for her contribution.

I have a friend who is a doctor and every year he works in Africa for two months for no money. So everyone is on the same playing field, whether you offer your services as the doctor or as Angelina does.

----- Ok, scratch that, apparently her words were "taken out of contest" or she didn't even say that. Anyway...

Next thing you know Angelina will be wearing a halo and claiming she's the reincarnation of St. Francisco de Asisi.

 

[Nemova]

All I wanted to say is, some people do charity for the sake of it, some others turn it into a business they can profit from. It's like being a volunteer at some aid organisation and then putting it in your résumé. It completely defeats the purpose of doing charity if you're doing it for self-promotion.

 

[misssakura]

You know, I have no sympathy for him, at all. My boyfriend works his *** off at a crappy job because nobody will hire him, he has earned $4000 NZD this year and out of that he has had $1000 taken away for tax. We struggle to live every day. Bono has enough money, he could survive happily with 0.5% of what he earns. I'm not even going to consider defending him, the guy made rubbish adverts for ipod..on that income alone he surpassed what most people will make in their lifetimes.

 

[Nemova]

^so he's a bad guy because he has lots of money? What kind of logic is that? Anyway, you're entitled to your own opinion no matter how much I disagree with you.

 

[Zen]

I think this is my cue to exit from the debate. Jolie's somehow managed to crop in. I can hear the lynch mob from here. I don't want this to turn into which celebrity's charity is better. Not my scene. I appreciate the efforts made by anyone to do their bit in the world....just less of the preaching is all I require.

LOL.....you better, because those Jolie supporters can get nasty.....

 

[VainJane]

Pfffft .. hed rather just move here ... I dont know a single costarican who declares taxes! -me/my parents/friends included-

Really? Maybe I should move there too....

 

[misssakura]

^so he's a bad guy because he has lots of money? What kind of logic is that? Anyway, you're entitled to your own opinion no matter how much I disagree with you.

No, I didn't say that he is a bad guy because he has money and in fact if you'd followed any of the other threads in this forum dealing with this issue (most notably Angelina Jolie) I think that it's a ridiculous double standard that is applied to people who have wealth.

However I don't have sympathy for his tax situation because he earns so much money and still has so much left over that moving to another country purely to save wealth can only be hypocritical. Don't forget, Bono is in charge of his own business and knows exactly what is doing. After tax he still has enough money to do all the charitable work he wishes to and still keep this industry in Ireland, the country he is supposed to love and be part of, especially after badgering the Irish government to take taxes and donate them as foreign aid. See where people are coming from?

Bono has made some mistakes for himself over the years. Same as Charlotte Church saying that everybody should 'get over 9/11', only his are more repeated. What he is doing currently by creating a media focus on his dislike of taxes is furthering the negative opinion he created when relentlessly promoting apple products - nobody has heard a significant peep out of him since 2002 regarding charity, all he is seen for now is investing in capitalistic ventures, apple, forbes, war games and now this.

I am not going to sympathise with his tax situation because as I said, there are people who do a LOT worse. I think in this instance he should have kept quiet, kept working for charity and not sounded like a capitalistic businessman. And I don't really appreciate the snarky comment that implies I stated he was a bad person. It doesn't help your argument and only creates bad will.

 

[Nemova]

And I don't really appreciate the snarky comment that implies I stated he was a bad person. It doesn't help your argument and only creates bad will.

I wasn't being snarky, it was just a logical conclusion that I draw from your rather emotional comment. You didn't help much either by making such an un-objective comment, but as I stated before you're entitled to your opinion and I'm not gonna fight that.

I myself see nothing wrong in Bono acting like a "capitalistic businessman" because after all that's exactly what he is. We're in a capitalist world (thank God) and he's doing his job by increasing wealth, whether if it's by investing in Apple or Forbes or by creating his own clothing line. That's what makes the world go round. At least he's not using his good deeds to become even more famous and richer. I see this trend of celebrities using charity as a means to self-promotion and it disgusts me. What should be a one way street becomes an unfair trade. Instead of using their fame and status to bring attention to humanitarian issues, they turn their supposedly good deeds into fashion mag covers and $$$ million dollar contracts. Bono and U2 don't need this kind of publicity - and they certainly know it.

 

[Nemova]

OT - clarification

To misssakura: just to set things straight, I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything. You have an opinion on Bono and I respect that - it just bothers me when people complain about him while so many celebrities get away with using charity for self-promotion. People can say what they want about Bono, but self-promotion is definitely not one of the things you can blame him for. I know it wasn't your point but that's what those discussions normally lead to.

I don't see what's wrong in him preaching if it's for a good cause. He's a rich man and his money comes from his work, not from his charity. He's not on the cover of every magazine or newspaper every week, and he manages to keep his private life safe and away from the public eye. I respect him as an artist and as a person, and I believe that people like him make the world a better place to live. I could hate guys like him or Bill Gates with evey fiber of my being or I could just say "more power to them". I stick with the latter.