Not sure If I´m posting this on the right place or if it´s been already posted, apologies if it has but just saw this on dotmusic. Definitely a PR own goal in the UK & Ireland and couldn´t come at a worse time.
No Poverty On The Horizon - Snap, Crackle and Pop
No Poverty On The Horizon
"Posted Thu 26 Feb 2009 11:51AM GMT by Dave Rumour in Snap, Crackle and Pop
It must be difficult to have a bad week when you're a multi-millionaire rock star. But that's exactly what seems to have befallen U2, as they prepare for the release of vaguely interesting new studio album "No Line On The Horizon". On Monday, they became embroiled in a dispute between the BBC and members of the British government, who took offence at the totally overblown, blanket coverage the misguided corporation is offering them on its network. Talk about free advertising.
Today, however, poverty superhero Bono and his band have been accused of robbing the world's poorest people by stashing some of their limitless fortune in a tax haven many miles from the group's Irish homeland. Just days before their comeback hits stores, protestors held a demonstration against U2 outside the Irish Department of Finance in Dublin, meeting Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to claim they are depriving the nation's exchequer millions in revenue which could benefit the sort of good causes the singer has founded his political credibility on.
The Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI) are leading the campaign, which comes after U2 shifted the crucial royalty payment leg of their business abroad in 2006, when the local government scrapped an artist income tax exemption scheme. DDCI's Nessa Ni Chasaide explained: "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. Tax avoidance and tax evasion costs the impoverished world at least $160 million every year. This is money urgently required to bring people out of poverty."
Do you support U2's decision to move their money out of Ireland? Is Bono a hypocrite? Have your say here..."
Maybe there´s no such thing as bad publicity eh?
No Poverty On The Horizon - Snap, Crackle and Pop
No Poverty On The Horizon
"Posted Thu 26 Feb 2009 11:51AM GMT by Dave Rumour in Snap, Crackle and Pop
It must be difficult to have a bad week when you're a multi-millionaire rock star. But that's exactly what seems to have befallen U2, as they prepare for the release of vaguely interesting new studio album "No Line On The Horizon". On Monday, they became embroiled in a dispute between the BBC and members of the British government, who took offence at the totally overblown, blanket coverage the misguided corporation is offering them on its network. Talk about free advertising.
Today, however, poverty superhero Bono and his band have been accused of robbing the world's poorest people by stashing some of their limitless fortune in a tax haven many miles from the group's Irish homeland. Just days before their comeback hits stores, protestors held a demonstration against U2 outside the Irish Department of Finance in Dublin, meeting Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to claim they are depriving the nation's exchequer millions in revenue which could benefit the sort of good causes the singer has founded his political credibility on.
The Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI) are leading the campaign, which comes after U2 shifted the crucial royalty payment leg of their business abroad in 2006, when the local government scrapped an artist income tax exemption scheme. DDCI's Nessa Ni Chasaide explained: "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. Tax avoidance and tax evasion costs the impoverished world at least $160 million every year. This is money urgently required to bring people out of poverty."
Do you support U2's decision to move their money out of Ireland? Is Bono a hypocrite? Have your say here..."
Maybe there´s no such thing as bad publicity eh?
