Perhaps some of the late U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms’ fiscal conservatism rubbed off on his buddy Bono. How else might one explain the U2 singer’s apparent understanding of the impact of corporate tax rates, as documented by the Washington Free Beacon?

U2 frontman Bono defended Ireland’s lowest-in-the-world corporate tax rate as a boon for the country’s economy. He said the business-friendly tax rate is responsible for “the only prosperity we’ve known,” according to The Independent.

“We are a tiny little country, we don’t have scale, and our version of scale is to be innovative and to be clever, and tax competitiveness has brought our country the only prosperity we’ve known,” he told the Observer.

“We don’t have natural resources; we have to be able to attract people.”

He also pointed to the fringe benefits of the economic prosperity gained from the low tax rate.

Because of its generous tax allowances, he added, Ireland has reaped the benefits of “more hospitals and firemen and teachers because of [the tax] policies.”