Madam, - James Moran (June 14th) misses the point completely about why the G8 failed to deliver for Africa. The G8 countries countries are led by politicians who must raise taxes to deliver anything and all of us dislike paying taxes.
Bono campaigns for economic justice for Africa, but that is not possible without tax justice, which he never talks about. We in the developed world will never fulfil our promises to Africa if potential tax revenue is siphoned off - albeit legally - through international tax havens.
The latest NGO to point out that tax havens pose a serious threat to the world's poorest people is the Dutch group SOMO, which asserts that the Netherlands - where U2 moved its publishing business to avoid tax in Ireland - is a tax haven because it levies little or no tax on royalties. 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 Millennium Development Goals, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/Aids and providing universal primary education by 2015.
Therefore, if Bono in particular wants to make an impact he really has to lead by example when it comes to paying tax.
- Yours, etc,
RONAN TYNAN, Blackrock, Co Dublin.