Pro-Bono advice to Luxembourg, or Bono in the Tax-shop.

My Orchids. Dendrobium "Double Irish". Photo Youtoo

Pro-Bono advice to Luxembourg, or Bono in the Tax-shop.

How do you preach WATER and drink WINE? In this article by Conall Ó Fátharta of the Irish Examiner Reporter, Bono produces some good language on how to justify tax rulings in a rush down to zero when you are a tiny country and need prosperity, and on how to justify the same when you are a corporation. Bono’s U2 sheltered some in the Netherlands. Here is the language from the article, “Bono: U2 ‘happy to pay a fortune in tax’:

“It’s just some smart people we have working for us trying to be sensible about the way we are taxed.”

“Because you’re good at philanthropy I think and because I am an activist people think you should be stupid in business and I don’t run with that.”

But then Guitarist The Edge ruined somewhat the argument, saying it was “ridiculous” that people made an issue out of the band’s tax arrangements.

“So much of our business is outside of Ireland. It’s kind of ridiculous to make a big deal about the fact that we operate outside of Ireland because everything we do is outside of Ireland,” he said. That wasn’t a well-coordinated response as it opens the can of worms with the questions on how much business is U2 doing then in the Netherlands?

The Edge through some divine intervention got punished immediately for that comment, when at the first concert of the Band's new tour he fell over the edge and off the stage. Down, down like a tax rate.

My advice to Luxembourg hence is: Let Bono write your lyrics, not The Edge.