Well this is a family discussion that’s been coming for a long time. U2, the Irish supergroup, are being blasted as sell-outs who have turned their back on their fans and their nation for moving all their key assets offshore to escape Irish taxes.
The bands tax moves comes at a time when Ireland desperately needs the revenue. In recent weeks the band has been subjected to one furious attack after another in the press.
The Irish Independent newspaper commissioned a poll showing that 84 per cent of U2’s fellow countrymen think the band’s business operations should be based and taxed in Ireland.
An editorial in the same newspaper said Bono was in danger of ruining his and the band’s reputation. ‘If they don’t act now,’ the paper said, ‘it could be the biggest PR disaster of their career.’ ’It’s a sticky one for U2. Essentially this is not the most comfortable time to be rich in Ireland. And it seems they know it.’
Manager Paul McGuinness has defended the offshore move as smart business strategy for a band that earns 95 per cent of its income outside Ireland in any case.
But Irish newspaper commentators have denounced the bands moves as exactly the sort of tax dodge multinational corporations engage in to increase their profits at the expense of Third World nations where they conduct business.
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