Bono – from hero to zero?

In Ireland, the band members of U2 have been spending as much time defending themselves against criticism as they have promoting their latest releases.

The controversy started nearly three years ago when the band decided to move part of their business from Ireland to The Netherlands in order to pay lower tax rates. The move was in response to the Irish Government’s decision to limit tax-free earnings for artists. Prior to that, all artistic earnings in Ireland were considered tax-free.

Criticism of the band’s decision to flee from taxation was heard almost immediately, but disappeared just as quickly without public comment from the band. But three years ago, Ireland was enjoying its glorious ‘Celtic Tiger’economy. Today, however, the Irish economy is in tatters and attitudes regarding the disparity between the rich and poor is once again grabbing headlines.

Part of the anger stems from group vocalist Bono’s repeated calls for the Irish government to contribute more to helping Africa – while at the same time reducing his own tax bill. And the criticism is coming from all sides. Even other groups that perform the same charity work as Bono – highlighting global injustice – are chastising the activist lead singer.

“Bono may campaign for a better deal for the world's poor, but his band is taking advantage of the same tax avoidance schemes that rob impoverished countries of billions,” argues Nessa Ní Chasaide of Debt and Development Coalition Ireland. “At least $160 billion drains out of impoverished countries each year because of multinational companies shifting their profits to avoid tax. We need international action to ensure that everyone pays and pays their fair share.”

The band had made no public comments on the accusations until recently. In an interview with the Irish Times on the eve of the launch of the band’s new album, Bono was most annoyed at being labeled “a hypocrite.”

“The thing that stung us was the accusation of hypocrisy for my work as an activist. What’s actually hypocritical is the idea that then you couldn’t use a financial services center in Holland. We do business all over the world, we pay taxes all over the world and we are totally tax compliant.”

Bono, who participates in global economic summits and rubs elbows with the world’s movers and shakers, was mostly a stranger to criticism. As one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers, he has raised public awareness on global threats, such as the AIDS epidemic in Africa. So how will he react to the charges levelled at him?

Michya Assayas is the author of ‘Bono: In Conversation.’ He has been a friend to the rock star since the start of the band’s meteoric rise to stardom. From his Paris home he talked about how Bono would react to the criticism.

“I’m not a spokesperson for Bono so it’s just my guess – but I think he would say it’s unfair. The hypocrisy is no-one would ever complain about him being a spoilt rock star, drinking cocktails in the Maldives. That would be perfectly alright. But as he is serious about what he does – he has to take flack.”

Assayas believes that the criticism is just part of the fame: “It's a national sport in every country to take down their celebrities, but it’s an opportunity to talk about U2 and maybe it’s just a matter of timing because their album has been just released.”

Kevin Myers is one of Ireland’s best known journalists. He believes not only is the criticism leveled at Bono fair, but it has been fair for a long time.

“I don’t understand why people revere a man who quite clearly has been legally avoiding paying tax to the state in which he lives but nonetheless instructs the state to spend more of its money to the third world. A supermarket checkout girl is giving more to the Irish state than he is (Bono) is,” he fumed.

Perhaps Bono’s saintly crown is slipping in his own country. There is genuine anger in Ireland that a public and very wealthy figure such as Bono can preach and lecture to the masses on how government money should be spent, but as the same time is culpable for paying less tax to the same government.

Although his actions are legal, they seem to weaken his moral arguments, especially in these trying days of financial crisis. It is a valid point that if Bono wasn’t involved in charitable work such criticisms would probably never have appeared. Such is the price of fame.

Tickets for the Irish leg of the new World tour go on sale this week in Ireland. Despite the criticism, the show is expected to sell out in a matter of minutes.

Ciaran Walsh for RT