MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Beatle Paul breaks all records in Uruguay including with the taxman

Paul in full action at the Centenary stadium

Former Beatle Paul McCartney paid almost 2.3 million dollars in national and municipal taxes during his only performance in Uruguay last April 15, which was considered by far the most spectacular concert in recent times in the country.

According to numbers worked out by the Finance section of Montevideo daily El Pais, the 54.000 tickets sold for the show at the Centenary Stadium represented 5.75 million dollars of which 3 million went to Paul and his crew.

The rest of the money was paid to the Uruguayan Revenue Service which between 22% VAT and 12% income tax for non residents added up to over one million dollars. The city of Montevideo government collected 522.600 dollars from a levy on tickets while the local musicians union and a special Fund for Music received 575.000 and 172.000 dollars.

Finally the organizers of the event pocketed 461.000 dollars plus all the sponsoring from companies that supported the show and revenue from the 180 tickets sold at 1.000 to 1.500 dollars to attend Paul sound tests at the stadium, which went untaxed because officially it was not a musical or arts performance.

The former Beatle only concert in Montevideo was the kick-off for a South America and Mexico regional tour, “On the Run”, which was considered a complete success in Uruguay since all tickets were sold out in a couple of hours in spite of the hefty prices for the local audience.

The show was also retransmitted direct to a huge screen in Montevideo which attracted 10.000 people and to two cities in the rest of the country with audiences between 6.000 and 8.000 in local stadiums.

In recent years Uruguay has become a calling point for some of the most renowned world music bands in spite of the heavy taxes that must be paid for each performance.