Madam, - If Bono had moved part of his business from the UK to avoid tax would Tony Blair have offered him a knighthood for his humanitarian work? U2, as has been widely reported, moved part of their business from Ireland to avoid tax when the Government abolished the unlimited tax free status enjoyed by artists in favour of a very generous €250,000 tax free allowance.
However, while many people may find Bono's double standards amusing, they do raise a very profound issue: how will governments ever raise enough revenue to fund aid and debt relief for the world's poor if people who are held up to us as model humanitarians adopt a "do as I say, not as I do" attitude to paying taxes?
The Tax Justice Network has estimated that the amount of funds held by wealthy individuals in tax havens could generate a staggering $255 billion dollars in additional tax revenue annually - enough to finance the UN's Millennium Development Goals. In other words, the poorest of the world's poor pay dearly for the inequities in the global taxation system and any award that even unwittingly hides that reality must be exposed. - Yours, etc,
RONAN TYNAN, Blackrock, Co Dublin.