Ah the Tax avoidance vereses Tax evasion argument. It's just we make it too easy to avoid!Most people in society pay as little tax as they can which is legal. There are people who have never paid tax in their life giving out about Bono and U2 being tax dodging even though the taxes from U2 have paid have ran into the millions over the years.
I see Bertie is now an "artist" and can gain special exemption for his new book. I guess it would be more suprising if he actually did pay tax on earnings. What did Haughy say on Ahearn...... " the most cunning and devious of them all"? Toe Rag IMO.
Back on topic and my view is pretty much nuetral. Some are giving the argument becuase Bono is an "Authority" on world affairs including er...Bono. If this is a by product of tecnological advances so be it. I still think the revenue will filter back (just throgh a different medium) to creaters, it does not cost the end user as much & I would guess that creaters still get their two cents worth as the revenue streams will be / are slicker.
I'll stop at your first sentence NeilMcD, the big blocks of text are doing my head in. So, in answer to that, I have to respond: are you seriously trying to compare a saving of tens of euros on a bike to millions of euros on music sales?
And please, don't insult my intelligence again by minimising U2's take on royalties. Touring is most certainly the primary revenue generators for modern bands, but U2's back catalogue is huge and their revenue from same must be significant.
Well if they are more guilty by saving millions of euro than I am by saving a few hundred of euro, then that logic has to say that they are better citizens as they pay more tax in a year than I will in the whole of my lifetime, and in addition the staff they have many of who pay their tax in Ireland also contribute to the tax take in Ireland.Originally Posted by dahamsta
On the last bit, I was not trying to insult your intelligence, but many people, not necessarily on this board, were of the view that U2 paid all their tax now in Holland, where in perecentage terms it is a small part of their totall earnings. The fact that it is huge just suggests that the amount they earn is huge and as a result they pay tax. They should not be called heroes or held up for this but in addition the media portrait of them people who pay no tax is not true either. Esp when they pay more taxs in on year that probably all the journalists who wrote about them comibined.
In Trap we trust
I have non objection to people using the tax laws to save themselves a few quid or a few thousand quid, I do it myself.
What I do object to, is people who avoid taxes (in Bono’s case a lot of taxes) and then become sanctimonious about how the taxes are spent.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...DgM&refer=home
"Your guilty conscience may move you to vote Democratic, but deep down you long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king"
Sideshow Bob
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