Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

Art Uncut is one of those organisations which, when it organises a "tax protest" is not complaining that the overall level of taxation is too high, but that some people – not them, of course, some other people – should be paying higher taxes. Mostly, it is rather unseemly. No-one has an obligation to organise their financial affairs in such a way as to maximise tax liability, and anyone who wants the government to have more money is perfectly at liberty to send some to it.

But when the target is U2 and Bono, they have a point.

Bono, after all, is a big believer in taxes.Though, it seems, he too mostly believes in other people's taxes. Bono wants me to send more money to the developing world. Nice of him. He has no idea how much I send now, but that's okay, he still thinks it should be more.

Not that I am against sending money to help people in distress. I buy goats for families in Africa and sponsor a girl – Reeta Kumari – in India, but I don't like taking lectures on the issue from Bono. As I understand it – and if Bono is reading this, and I am wrong, I will be happy to withdraw – when Bono flies he buys a first class seat for himself and another for his hat. Now, I get that, I really do. The hat may well be part of his branding – part of his act – and important to his business. But, as long as his hat has a higher standard of living than I do, I don't see why I should take lectures from him about the number of goats I buy and the number of girls I sponsor. I could do more. We all could. But I couldn't do as much more as Bono could, especially if he is taking extra special effort to minimise his tax liability.

Unless, of course, all the money he manages to avoid in tax gets sent straight to children in Africa. Then, maybe, we could look at this a little differently.