President Obama Is Mad at Accountants For Being Accountants

I buried this in ANR this morning but I think it should break out and be its own thing because WTF dude? I don't even ask that question as a confirmed libertarian nutjob who is likely to dislike whichever talking puppet occupies the White House at any particular moment, but ask that as a person who understands that the accountants' job is to save their clients money to the maximum extent allowed by law, not fill imaginary federal treasure chests with more tax money.

Here's what the president said at a press conference this week:

You have accountants going to some big corporations — multinational corporations but that are clearly U.S.-based and have the bulk of their operations in the United States — and these accountants are saying, you know what, we found a great loophole — if you just flip your citizenship to another country, even though it’s just a paper transaction, we think we can get you out of paying a whole bunch of taxes.

Well, it’s not fair. It’s not right.

Dude. I mean, Mr President Sir Dude. With all due respect, if you have a problem with the tax code and the people who manipulate it in their clients' favor, you need to holla at Congress. The accountants taking advantage of our completely fucked tax system aren't unscrupulous fraudsters, they are professionals who are paid the big bucks to find those loopholes.

Also, the accountants aren't going to these multinational corporations like your aggressive friend who sells Herbalife and pesters you about it constantly. These corporations seek out the kind of clever accountants who can save them the most money, even if that means pulling tax moves that are considered scandalous by the unwashed masses who don't understand how this stuff works.

So yeah, good job throwing accountants under the bus. Look around at your own house, bro. There are people in Washington pulling way more scandalous shit than a bunch of accountants sitting around at GE trying to figure out how to help one of the largest companies in America pay nothing in tax.