Normally content to hide behind his pontificating bandmate, U2 guitarist the Edge has come out fighting in an angry letter to a disgruntled reader of an American newspaper.

The Edge flew off the handle after reading a letter in The Baltimore Sun which launched a scathing attack on the band’s financial practises.

The letter, written by Baltimore resident Simon Moroney, criticised the band in general, but took particular aim at Bono, which is probably fair enough given the amount of attention he hogs compared to the rest of the band.

Moroney said that the U2 frontman exemplified "the worst characteristics of Wall Street, both for excess and tax evasion," and blasted him for owning a $15 million yacht, a mansion in Dublin and financing the “expensive and lavish” broadway flop Spider –Man.

He also said that Bono’s ONE anti-poverty campaign was "a lobbying group with no mandate or accountability," and had a go at Maryland Senator Benjamin Cardin for openly supporting it.

In a letter published by the newspaper on Tuesday, the Edge launched a strong defence of his more high-profile bandmate and U2’s financial practices in general.

"The most serious inaccuracy is the totally false and possibly libellous accusation that U2 and Bono have, by moving a part of their business activities to Holland, been involved in tax evasion,” he wrote.

"For the record, U2 and the individual band members have a totally clean record with every jurisdiction to which they are required to pay tax and have never been and will never be involved in tax evasion.

"The Irish Ministry of Finance... have no problem with U2 basing some of their business activities in Holland... (and) U2 and its members have paid many, many millions of dollars in taxes to the United States Internal Revenue Service over the years."

The mega-rich four piece have been accused of abusing the tax exemption for artists in this country by moving part of their business activities to Holland in order to amass millions of extra dollars tax-free.

The revenue affairs of Bono and his cohorts have come under greater scrutiny in recent times due to the perilous financial situation in this country, and the band have been criticised in a number of public protests.

This occurred most recently at Glastonbury, when action group Art Uncut inflated a giant balloon with the message “U Pay Your Tax 2” as the band took to the stage. It didn’t seem to deter the band too much, however, as they went on to play a set that was extremely well-received on the Friday night.

At the time, Bono echoed the Edge’s defence of the band’s financial practises, telling The Daily Mail: "I'm all for protests. I've been protesting all of my life. I'm glad they got the chance to have their say. But, as it happens, what they're protesting about is wrong."