The 54-year-old's comments come as the European Union launches a crackdown on the state aid that Ireland allegedly provides illegally to some US companies. Releasing preliminary details of an investigation last month, Brussels suggested deals between Irish government and Apple "constitute state aid".
Both Ireland and Apple - which teamed up with U2 last month to release the band's latest album - deny any wrongdoing.
Brussels is pressuring Ireland to end its highly controversial tax policies or face a full investigation, which could lead to multimillion-euro penalties. The Double Irish loophole allows US companies, mostly in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors, to reduce their effective tax bill far below Ireland's already generous 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate by shifting most of their taxable income from an operating company in Ireland to another Irish-registered firm located in an offshore tax haven, such as Bermuda.
This structure enables many US multinationals to avoid paying tax on their UK sales, by diverting them to the Irish Republic.
Google, for example, made US$5.6 billion ($7 billion) of revenues in the UK last year, but paid corporation tax of just 20.4 million ($41.5 million). The UK's corporation tax rate is 21 per cent, but is being reduced to 20 per cent next year.
The arrangement has allowed some American companies to pay an effective tax rate of just 2.2 per cent. But the Irish government disputes the figures.
Margrethe Vestager, the new EU competition commissioner, has vowed to make tackling multinational tax avoidance a high priority and described the Double Irish as "a very unfortunate arrangement".
Bono, who has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize and was given an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 for campaigning against extreme poverty, said the left-wing should understand the role businesses plays in alleviating poverty.
"As a person who's spent nearly 30 years fighting to get people out of poverty, it was somewhat humbling to realise that commerce played a bigger job than development," he said.
"I'd say that's my biggest transformation in 10 years - understanding the power of commerce to make or break lives, and that it cannot be given into as the dominating force in our lives."
Bono, who describes himself as a "natural social democrat", said Ireland had benefited from "more hospitals and firemen and teachers because of [our tax] policies".
The Irish government did not respond to requests for comment about Bono's views.
However, Enda Kenny, Ireland's Prime Minister, last week described the low tax rate as a cornerstone of Irish industrial policy.
"Ireland's package of tax, skills, and the reputation for being business-friendly is a huge advantage that other countries will struggle to match," Kenny said.
The Irish finance ministry said: "The state-aid investigation currently under way relates to one company only [Apple]. Ireland has and will continue to co-operate with this investigation.
"This involves exchange of information and face-to-face meetings to discuss details of the investigation. General discussions on taxation do not form part of these discussions."
Bono has previously attracted controversy for the band's tax arrangements. In 2006 the band transferred the company that handles its publishing royalties from Ireland to the Netherlands to reduce its tax bill.
Speaking about that decision, U2's guitarist, the Edge, said: "Was it totally fair? Probably not. The perception is a gross distortion. We do pay a lot of tax." But he said protesters who challenged the band when they headlined the Glastonbury festival in 2011 were right to do so.
Speaking about U2's partnership with Apple to give away the band's latest album, Songs of Innocence, free to half a billion iTunes users, Bono said: "We got paid. And this is about a company [Apple] that's fighting for musicians to be paid."
Many iTunes users were incensed that the album had been automatically downloaded to their accounts and Apple was forced to release a tool enabling unhappy customers to delete it.
Why Ireland's tax rules sound out of tune to the European Union
What is the Double Irish?
A loophole that allows US companies to reduce their effective tax bill by shifting most of their taxable income from an operating company in Ireland to another Irish-registered firm in an offshore tax haven.
Why is this controversial?
The arrangement has allowed some American companies to pay an effective tax rate of just 2.2 per cent, according to the 2011 reports of the Irish divisions of US companies to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Irish government disputes the figures.
What's happening now?
The European Union has released preliminary details of an investigation, suggesting deals between the Irish government and Apple "constitute state aid".
- Observer
