Taxing Bono: why not paying fair share amounts to anti-social behaviour

PITY poor Bono — he spends half his life working to relieve poverty and disease in the Third World and, in an instant, his tax advisers have people calling for his head.

Personally, I’d give him a ‘get out of jail free’ card for all his good works, though I might be less well disposed to the other fat-cat members of the U2 corporation.

What we seem to forget is that, in a democratic society, the taxation system is the main mechanism for the redistribution of wealth. We don’t pay taxes just so that the road system can expand to accommodate our ever increasing number of cars, or for extra gardaí and prison places to keep the proletariat in their place, or to keep Government ministers in shiny new Mercs each year.

We also pay tax so that those in need can be supported either directly through payments or indirectly through the provision of support services. The tax system also funds the national contribution to Third World aid.

Aggressive tax avoidance has to be recognised as anti-social behaviour, yet it is practised by many of our wealthiest and most prominent citizens.

Indeed, some of our most notable worthies claim to be non-resident for tax purposes, despite their presence at every dog fight here.

In the past week we’ve had the ludicrous situation where RTE’s ‘Charity You’re a Star’ participants were raising money so that hospitals could provide essential services which should be properly funded from the public purse.

It’s easy to find lots of other examples such as rundown schools, over-crowded prisons, lack of affordable nursing home places, etc.

Tax avoidance may not be a crime, but neither is it victimless. Provided the taxation system is relatively fair and the administration is not overly corrupt, we all have a duty to contribute our fair share to the community chest of public funds.

Peter Molloy

9 Haddington Park

Glenageary

Co Dublin