Freddie Mercury

Music's Top Twelve Tax Exiles

Queen's Freddie Mercury lived in Munich during the late 1970s then in New York City during the early 1980s because of Britain's rigid tax laws. (AP Photo/Gill Allen)

More from this Slideshow

0 of 0

U2 U2 moved their publishing arm to the Netherlands in 2006 after the Government capped tax-free earnings for artists at €250,000. U2 Ltd. claims that it paid nearly $1.1 million in taxes to Ireland in 2006. Previously, U2 had been one of the biggest beneficiaries of Ireland's tax-free status for artist royalties. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
The Rolling Ston... In 1971 The Rolling Stones became England's first musician tax exiles. Their experiences with evading taxes inspired them to entitle one of their albums, 'Exile On Main Street'. The British rockers have managed to pay just 1.6% tax on their earnings of £242million over the past 20 years. (AP Photo/Mikael Jonsson)
The Beatles Ringo Starr moved to Monaco as a tax exile from Britain. George Harrison wrote the song, "Taxman" about his dislike of paying taxes. He said, "Taxman was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes." (AP Photo, file)
Sting In 1980 Sting became a tax exile and moved to Galway in Ireland. His song, "Dead End Job," features the lyric, "I don't wanna be no tax exile And I don't mind being skint." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jacques Boissinot)
Led Zeppelin In the mid seventies, the members of Led Zeppelin spent their time traveling around The United States, the Carribian Islands, the Greek Isles, and Morocco in order to protect their vast earnings. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
Freddie Mercury Queen's Freddie Mercury lived in Munich during the late 1970s then in New York City during the early 1980s because of Britain's rigid tax laws. (AP Photo/Gill Allen)
Phil Collins Collins moved to Switzerland in 1997 after he promised to leave Britain if the Labour Party won the election. (AP Photo/Axel Heimken,file)
Pink Floyd In 1978, the members of the band Pink Floyd spent exactly one year outside of Great Britain for tax reasons. (AP Photo, File)
The Spice Girls A smart group of accountants helped The Spice Girls to save about £1 million each as they spent tax exempt time away from the UK during their Spiceworld Tour. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
David Bowie David Bowie moved to Switzerland in 1976, first living in Blonay and then moving to Lausanne in 1982. (AP Photo/Brian Killigrew)
Rod Stewart Rod Stewart dodged taxes by fleeing to California in 1976. (AP Photo/ Jonathan Buckmaster/Daily Express, Pool)
Ozzy Osbourne Ozzy Ozbourne went to Canada in the late 1970's and subsequently moved to Beverly Hills, California. (AP PHOTO/Stefan Rousseau/WPA POOL)