Why is Ocean Rain such an impossibly great album?

[black francis]

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2006/08/20/100/

[Grumpy_Jimbo]

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2006/08/20/100/

The point you made is that U2 were avoiding paying Tax, the point I made was that they are paying Tax..........

[black francis]

The point you made is that U2 were avoiding paying Tax, the point I made was that they are paying Tax..........

According to this article and many more available U2 are most likely not paying taxes on their royalties because of the move to Holland. Now granted if they still reside in Ireland then they probably still pay property tax, sales tax, etc (I don't know for sure what Irish residents pay in taxes) but it looks as though the move to Holland was to avoid paying the royalty tax altogether.

Maybe this is a better summation (from Slate):

Bono, the rock star and campaigner against Third World debt, is asking the Irish government to contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he's reducing tax payments that could help fund that aid.

But I suspect we're not going to agree on the topic so maybe we should just go back to why Ocean Rain is one of the most amazing albums ever.

[Frank The Bunny]

maybe we should just go back to why Ocean Rain is one of the most amazing albums ever.

I think Ocean Rain is one of the most amazing albums ever because U2 don't pay taxes to Ireland.

[black francis]

Works for me Frank.

[withahip]

I thought they moved to France to avoid taxes. Anyway, it is pretty common knowledge that U2 avoid paying the taxes of their countrymen while waving the Irish flag.

http://www.slate.com/id/2152580/

A familiar paradox about leftist celebrities in the entertainment industry is that their embrace of progressivism almost never includes a wholehearted embrace of progressive taxation, i.e., the principle that the richer you get, the larger the percentage of your income you ought to pay in taxes. The latest example is U2's Bono, a committed and unusually sophisticated anti-poverty crusader who is taking surprisingly little heat for the decision by his band, U2, to relocate its music-publishing business from Ireland to the Netherlands in order to shelter its songwriting royalties from taxation.

The irony was stated in admirably stark terms by Bloomberg's Fergal O'Brien, who reported on Oct. 16:

Bono, the rock star and campaigner against Third World debt, is asking the Irish government to contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he's reducing tax payments that could help fund that aid.

And relocating your business offshore in order to avoid paying taxes to the Republic of Ireland, where poverty is higher than in almost any other developed nation? Bono's hypocrisy seems even more naked when you consider that Ireland is a tax haven for artists. In June 2005, Bono (who was born in Dublin) told the Belfast Telegraph:

Our publishing, which is about one third of our income, we have tax breaks on, and that's great and that's encouraged us to stay in Ireland and if that changes, it's not going to affect anything for U2. ...

Six months later, Ireland's finance minister announced a ceiling of $319,000 on tax-free incomes, and six months after that, U2 opened its Amsterdam office. The relocation of U2's music publishing will halve taxes on the band's songwriting royalties, which already reportedly total $286 million. Although Bono has declined to comment on the move, the band's lead guitarist, David "the Edge" Evans, said, "Of course we're trying to be tax-efficient. Who doesn't want to be tax-efficient?'" Writing in the Observer, Nick Cohen noted that Evans "sounded as edgy as a plump accountant in the 19th hole."

U2's tax-shelter scheme caused an uproar in Ireland when the story broke there in August. But it's scarcely raised a ripple in the United States. A conservative would argue that's because in this country, we don't begrudge a man the opportunity to keep what he earns off the sweat of his brow (or even off the sweat of someone else's brow ) … even if that man spends half his time trying to goad governments into spending more to alleviate poverty. But a liberal could answer that in the United States, we are so used to seeing rich people avoid taxation that even a wealthy hypocrite who shelters his cash abroad can no longer qualify as news.

[black francis]

You guys are making me blush

[JackT]

I think Ocean Rain is one of the most amazing albums ever because U2 don't pay taxes to Ireland.

It's true. The Irish government had a "Bureau of Keeping Ocean Rain From Being The Greatest Album Ever Made". Reduced revenues forced this department to be closed, and the rest is history.

[Mr. Brian]

I realize it's a sport around here to slam U2 at any opportunity they are mentioned but the fact remains, hypocrisy or not, that the music business is a business like any other and there are bills to be paid and it takes a certain amount of effort beyond just being a good songwriter or musician to be successful and continue beyond a few hits or a cult following outside your home area. U2 tapped into what it takes and it paid off in a big way. The Bunnymen for the most part chose not to invest.

[black francis]

I say Buck Fono

[JackT]

I realize it's a sport around here to slam U2 at any opportunity they are mentioned but the fact remains, hypocrisy or not, that the music business is a business like any other and there are bills to be paid and it takes a certain amount of effort beyond just being a good songwriter or musician to be successful and continue beyond a few hits or a cult following outside your home area. U2 tapped into what it takes and it paid off in a big way. The Bunnymen for the most part chose not to invest.

I suppose it would be out of the question to suggest that at least some of the music is good as well?

[black francis]

The Fly, Where The Streets Have No Name, With Or Without You and One are pretty classic.

[Mr. Brian]

I suppose it would be out of the question to suggest that at least some of the music is good as well?

Well you have to have that too. Unless you are Creed.

[black francis]

Whoah, easy on the Creed bashing

[Mr. Brian]

Whoah, easy on the Creed bashing

I figured that would get you fired up.