Mick Jagger And Keith Richards’ Minimal Tax For $180M Worth Company Raises Questions

The Rolling Stones’ company made $180 million over nine years but paid less than 1% of that in taxes.

According to recent records, the band’s holding company Promogroup BV has been earning millions since 2013. In the latest documents from March this year, they reported receivables of $25 million for 2021 but only paid $213,000 in taxes. This makes for a tax rate of about 0.84 percent.

There’s no hint that Promogroup BV is paying anything other than the taxes they owe, and we don’t know how much extra tax Jagger and Richards are paying. Still, it’s unclear whether or not the band members are involved in tax evasion.

Are Stones Tax Exiles?

Up to 1972, the Stones were making a ton of money from their songs and live gigs. But as it appears, they came up short when it came to paying the taxes.

Bill Wyman explained that under Wilson’s Labour government, the tax rate was 93% for earnings over a million quid. He said it was almost impossible to make enough money to pay taxes and still live comfortably in England:

“Tax, under the Labour government of Wilson, was 93% if you earned a million quid, which we didn’t, you’d end up with 70 grand. So it was impossible to earn enough money to pay back the Inland Revenue and stay here, in England”.

Eventually, The Stones found themselves dealing with tax troubles. Instead of trying to make more money or do benefit gigs, they chose to skip town and live elsewhere to avoid the high tax rates.