Madam, - Bono was right when he said in Davos last Friday that we have to move beyond mere moral statements if we are to meet our commitments to the world's poorest people (The Irish Times, January 26th).
However, he should have been laughed off the stage - because the only way that can be done is by spending taxpayers' money, and he has shown in moving U2's publishing empire out of Ireland to a tax haven that he personally is going to stick to moral statements rather than paying tax to achieve an end to poverty.
Calls for "agreements" to help the poor are disingenuous when it is clear they will not be adopted for the same reason that the G8 governments have not fulfilled their promises to the poor: they demand serious amounts of tax revenue which will not be made available in a world where more and more of the very rich are resorting to tax havens to pay little or no tax.
Of course, there was no fear of Bono being held up to ridicule in Switzerland, the world's leading tax haven, because that country assists some of the wealthy participants at Davos to engage in the same kind of aggressive off-shore tax avoidance for which Bono is becoming known.
Indeed, the banking secrecy offered by Swiss and other tax havens also facilitates corrupt politicians, not only from Africa but around the world, to conceal theft and bribery.
John O'Shea of Goal would have little to worry about Irish aid being channelled through African governments if such secrecy in tax havens was made illegal.
We live in a very rich world. But the resources needed to eliminate poverty will never be made available if we continue to tolerate the notion that paying tax is only an option for the super-rich rather than a legal obligation. - Yours, etc,
RONAN TYNAN,
Booterstown,
Co Dublin.
Madam, - As an Irish taxpayer for more than 50 years I wish to comment on the discussion on world poverty - in particular, Bono's opinion that developing countries should be able to "haul our asses into court" (sue rich countries for failing to meet UN commitments on tackling poverty).
Like most of my fellow resident taxpayers I have also contributed to many of the appeals made by our magnificent NGOs and I appreciate that successive Irish governments have paid taxpayers' money to the Third World to the limit that our finances allowed. Thus I would reject any implied criticism from "preening rock stars" or anybody else.
Instead I would like to mention the following facts. Research has established that there are more than 70 tax havens for non-residents worldwide. The amount of money held in these offshore accounts is estimated at $11.5 trillion. At a tax rate of 30 per cent applied to those accounts, the loss to governments and the third world is in the region of $265 billion dollars a year - enough to eliminate world poverty permanently.
Perhaps Bono could bring these facts to the attention of those whom it concerns and maybe he could begin by focusing on this country. Some of us are getting tired of being lectured to while trying to support both our home-bred non-resident rich and our poverty-ridden Third World brethren. - Yours, etc,
HUGH MULROONEY,
Lucan Heights,
Lucan, Co Dublin.