The American Standard Bearer

It turns out that U2 front man, Bono, has remained true to form. For a liberal, that is.

Bono, the rock star who has used his fame as a bully-pulpit to extort huge sums of money from western governments, apparently considers himself and his band-mates exempt from the duties and responsibilities that more ordinary citizens of the free world are obliged to bear. In order to avoid Ireland’s approximately 12% tax rate, the band has relocated their publishing company to the Netherlands where they will pay only 5%.

While many view Bono’s efforts to relieve the scourge of third-world poverty as admirable, the effort he has made to avoid sharing in the financial burden with the rest of us exposes he and his fellow band members as nothing more than elitist leftists. Lead guitar player David Evans, more commonly known as “The Edge” told an Irish radio audience, “Our business is a very complex business. Of course we’re trying to be tax-efficient. Who doesn’t want to be tax-efficient?” Millions of people have “very complex” businesses and lives, but don’t have the luxury of transplanting their money to a country with more favorable tax laws in the guise of tax effiency.

Ireland has one of the lowest tax rates in the free world, yet Bono and friends aren’t willing to pay it, all the while asking American and European taxpayers to pony up. Nevertheless, he is right in step with the western world’s arrogant elitist establishment, so it’s unlikely that any of this will have the slightest negative effect on his bid for a future Nobel Peace Prize.