The Discerning Texan
-- Edmund Burke
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Do As I Say, Not as I Do--yes, it even applies to Bono
Still when it comes down to the bottom line--his own pocketbook--actions speak louder than words. Not that I blame Bono in this case--As someone who is not a believer in a corporate to grave socialist state, I would no doubt do the same thing were I he--but that is another argument for another day. In the meantime I can see where some would say this latest move is--well--a bit hypocritical . But at the very least it illustrates that a heavy tax burden in the end tends to collapse under its own weight. From Glenn Reynolds:
BONO: HYPOCRITE?
Cheaper, too! And yet if anything it seems to be more admired than being generous with one's own.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." It's easier to be generous with other people's money.
