Rock band U2 has been accused of robbing the world's poorest people by storing some of its wealth in a tax haven. As they prepare to launch new album, 'No Line On The Horizon', protesters have held a demonstration outside the Irish Department of Finance in Dublin.
U2 (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr) are said to be depriving the Irish exchequer of much-needed revenue which could be spent on overseas aid, campaign group the Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI) claims.
The band moved the company U2 Ltd, set up to deal with royalty payments, to a finance house in Holland in 2006 after the Irish Government scrapped an artist income tax exemption scheme (once, if you were an 'artist' or 'writer', you didn't have to pay tax in Ireland). The new limit was capped at €250,000.
Accounts for 2007 show U2 Ltd paid out more than €21 million euros (£19m) in wages. Oxfam and Concern Worldwide are among 70 organisations involved in the coalition, which met Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan before protesters gathered.
DDCI's Nessa Ni Chasaide said: "We wanted to raise our concern that while Bono has championed the cause of fighting poverty and injustice in the impoverished world, the fact is that his band has moved part of its business to a tax shelter in the Netherlands." She added: "Tax avoidance and tax evasion costs the impoverished world at least $160 million (£142.5m) every year. This is money urgently required to bring people out of poverty.
