What do people think of him?
Just having a discussion in the office here - I acknowledge that the 3rd world is better off financially since Band Aid etc but I find him deeply obnoxious
Hate the bastard, definitely one of my top three most hated Irish people. His egotistical, self indulgent crap really gets up my wick. Hi rock!
Referring to ridding the third world of hunger âI would shake the devils handâ.
Fook off Geldof and get a leash on that young on of yours
How is the 3rd World better off financially? Iâm not sure thatâs the case at all. The famine in 1985 was horrific and there might not be anything on that scale taking place at the moment but thatâs not because the continent has any better spread of resources.
I think itâs appalling that people like himself and Bono waffle on about Africa all the time. Bono goes to all these world political forums and talks about giving more aid. One hell of a contradiction from the man who moved all his assets to Holland to avoid paying tax in Irish. Then the prick has the cheek to ask the EU to write off African debt. How about paying some fucking taxes first ya prick if you want us to give money away.
For the record I am all for dropping the debt and reforming the global and African economies. I donât have a problem with someone talking about it the whole time because itâs a huge problem but I do have an issue with them when theyâre selfish pricks themselves. Like Iâll listen to Bill Gates on Africa because heâs put his money where his mouth is.
Oh and all the above goes for Geldof too though he was memorably confrontational with Thatcher once.
Youâre right - the Third World isnât better off financially. What I was trying to say is that Band Aid did contribute something
Its all about ego with those two lads. At least Bono has something to be proud of in U2 whereas Geldof was a shit musician and is only known for his âcharity workâ. Geldof famously switched his time and that of Ultravox (Midge Ureâs band) at Live Aid so that Charles and Diana would be there to see him. Heâs a sneaky fuck who has milked the praise and has even made a few bob off it as well
vintage farmer!
QQuality, just listening to Vienna now. World class
âThis means
nothing to me
Ooooooooh, Viennaâ
Midge Ure and his knacker tash. What a combination hi5
donât agree with some of your comments regardng Bono. I do think he tends to be a bit too paly with big business and political leaders when they are just using him. Howeve just becuase he moved his assets to Holland to avoid paying tax here doesnât mean he is a selfish bastard. I would not have a guilty conscience if I was in his shoes. Maybe he thinks his taxes wouldnât be squandered in Holland like they would be here. How do you know Bono doesnât put his money where his mouth is as regards contributions to charity?
Because Bonoâs whole campaign of making poverty history is not about asking the average person on the street to give money to Africa. His very argument is that the poverty is structural and can only be eliminated by intervention by western governments. So he wants the western governments to support Africa. Fair enough.
But the selfish prick doesnât pay taxes. So heâs happy to ask the governments to reform without making his own contribution. There was a statistic in one of the papers a few months ago that suggested there could be a billion extra revenue in taxes globally if people like Bono didnât move their money to tax havens. So in Bonoâs world all that money is potential money for Africa that he is denying them. If he wants the government to change how it does its business then he should be willing to pay tax here first.
How is he selfish? Because he chooses to take advantage of the tax system? That doesnât make him selfish. I would be pretty sure that he gives a higher proportion of his income to charity than other people who use tax havens or to the average person on the street. I think he is quite selfless. It would be far easier for him not to keep going on about Africa. There is quite a lot of resentment to him at the moment because he keeps going on about it. Similar to climate change the only way to solve the problem is through government intervention and not through personal responsibilty/contributions. Bono is doing his best and while I disagree with a lot of what he does (especially that terrible speech at Labour conference a coouple of years ago) I think he should be applauded for his efforts and not criticised.
Youâre missing the point though - Bonoâs argument is not that we should give more to charity as individuals. He thinks the governments need to sort out the issue. I agree with him on that. The problem is that he doesnât pay taxes so he doesnât give money to the government to help sort out the issue. So he can whatever the fuck he wants in his private life - and thereâs no problem with him encouraging people to donate money to a charity. But when he wants governments to spend money that heâs too selfish to give them then thatâs hyporcritical.
well we spend a tiny tiny percentage of our GDP on foreign aid so the fact that he doesnât pay taxes in this state is irrelevant as hardly any of our taxes go go foreign aid. Maybe he as an individual can afford to give more to charity because he doesnât pay taxes here which he knows will be wasted by an incompetent government. The fact that he is trying to get our government and other governments to spend more on foreign aid is a good thing and should be supported. if he is trying to avoid wasting money by paying tax here which would be wasted and isnât breaking the law good luck to him.
Itâs not for Bono to decide whether the government spends his money wisely or not. If he wants to have influence with governments then he has to be prepared to pay taxes as part of that process. If he chooses to spend his money another way then so be it but he shouldnât then be telling the government what to do with the money it gets from the rest of the people in this country who donât benefit from the same tax exemptions as Bono does.
Even if youâre not talking about foreign aid there is plenty of money needed in this country to improve the lot of the less well off. We have a very dichotomous economy with the second wides gap between the rich and the poor in the develeoped world (after the US) and Bono does nothing to help bridge that gap because he doesnât pay taxes. So we all pay taxes and the government chooses how to spend that. You can argue that different governments would spend that money in a better manner (I would) but thatâs not how a democracy works. You canât opt out because those in power donât suit you (and they do seem to suit Bono just fine because heâs great pals with them all).
If I was in government now Iâd introduce legislation so that people who are tax resident overseas wouldnât be allowed to vote here. If youâre not putting the money in why should you get a say in how itâs spent.
This is a crazy argument - can you not see Piper the hypocrisy of Bono? On the one hand he putting himself forward as the saviour of the poor when he, with all his millions, will go out of his way not to pay tax. Itâs selfishness and hypocrisy of the highest order.
I hate the way the likes of McManus particularly are seen as a saviour down in Limerick. He avoids paying tax and then contributes money to sporting causes etc. What gives him the right to decide who deserves his money? Just pay your bloody taxes to the government JP like everyone elseâŚ
i think its a ridiculous argument. piper is 100% right imho. the man is entitled to arrange his financial affairs to have the lowest possible tax liability (obviously within the law), thats a basic right. There is no hypocracy in this.
now, there is an argument that the govt should tighten up on the loopholes that the rich are exploiting, but bono is entitled to take advantage of them while they are open.
in summary, i dont think bonoâs arguments are stronger or weaker, due to what he does to (legally) avoid tax. the issues are mutually exclusive
âhis is tight fistedâ why? because he is intelligent enough to take advantage of tax loopholes?
Do you think this is enethical, fingal?
He also dragged a case over a stolen hat through our courts for weeks. Courts that we have to pay for as tax-payers. Not Sir Bono though.
[quote=therock67 ]
Courts that we have to pay for as tax-payers.[/quote]
Speak for yourself.
I am in the Rock, Farmer, Fingal Raven camp when it comes to Bono though.
His campaigning is very admirable but loses an awful lot of its effect considering his own tax affairs.
Heâs in a shit band too.
Fingal, i agree with your sentiment that the rich get an easy ride with taxes and it is unfair, however it is the system that is unfair and i dont think that bonoâs expoitation of the system is immoral
are you suggesting that he voluntarily pays more tax? i think that is naive. we should expect that people will arrange their fidiciary affairs to lower their tax liability, and if the system is unfair change it (and i do believe that it needs change), but dont blame bono for working within the system.