Former Beatle Paul McCartney is rocking on at the Live8 Higher Taxes for Africa concert. While Sir Paul collecting his $12,000 goodie bag and asking taxpayers to throw more cash at African poverty, the U.K. Telegraph notes that the McCartney's had a history of playing the good capitalist and avoiding as much of their tax burden as they could. Despite living in the U.K. for more than 30 years, Linda and Paul spent her final months working with lawyers to set up a "qualified domestic marital trust" and ensure that she wouldn't have to pay any death taxes.

By filing for probate in New York rather than the United Kingdom, Linda McCartney avoided the 40 per cent death duties levied by Her Majesty's Government. That way, her family gets all 100 per cent - and 100 per cent of Linda McCartney's estate isn't to be sneezed at.

For purposes of comparison, Bob Geldof's original Live Aid concert in 1985 raised �50 million. Lady McCartney's estate was estimated at around �150 million. In other words, had she paid her 40 per cent death duties, the British Treasury would have raised more money than Sir Bob did with Bananarama and all the gang at Wembley Stadium that day.

In other news, the Scotsman reports that U.S. donations to Africa are 15 times larger than Europe's.