President Obama Is Mad at Accountants For Being Accountants

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

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.

 

Related Posts

Oh, By the Way, There’s Still a New 1099 Reporting Requirement for 2012 in the Proposed Budget

As you know, the bane of small businesses across this great land, the 1099 reporting requirement, was repealed by the Senate earlier this month. Despite some maneuvering amongst Senators to be crowned the biggest champion of small business, it seems that everyone agreed that this little sliver of the healthcare reform bill needed to go.

Now the House has taken up the charge but The Hill reports on a portion of President Obama’s proposed budget that is already annoying the hell out of some:

President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget still contains a portion of the 1099 provision while eliminating the requirement for goods but retaining it for services. The proposal is expected to raise about $10 billion over 10 years.

The National Federation of Independent Business blasted the new 1099 proposal as a “bait and switch.”

“We are disappointed that the president has not clearly heard what small businesses are saying,” NFIB senior vice president of Federal Public Policy Susan Eckerly said in a statement. “We at NFIB remain committed to helping the president and Congress understand the needs of small business as the budget process moves forward.”

But before you get your panties in a bunch, the Office of Management and Budget can explain:

“The administration recognizes the burden that this expanded information reporting provision will put on small businesses and proposes to repeal the provision,” the document says. “Instead, the administration proposes that a business be required to file an information return for payments for services or for determinable gains aggregating to $600 or more in a calendar year to a corporation (except a tax-exempt corporation); information returns would not be required for payments for property.”

If you call that an explanation.

Ways and Means schedules mark up of 1099 provision [The Hill]

Latest Poll Suggests That Most People Think Paul Ryan’s Deficit Reduction Plan Is a Lousy Idea

[A McClatchy-Marist] poll reported that roughly two out of three registered voters — 64 percent — would be in favor of increasing taxes on annual income over $250,000. President Obama reiterated in his deficit-reduction speech last week that he favored allowing taxes to rise on families in that income level. Independents favored that plan of action at roughly the same percentage as the country at large, with more than eight in 10 Democrats also behind the idea. A majority of Republicans, 54 percent, opposed it. The poll was conducted both before and after Obama’s Wednesday speech, with support for higher taxes on wealthier Americans picking up afterward. Meanwhile, fully four in five registered voters oppose cutting Medicare and Medicaid. The House GOP’s fiscal 2012 budget, largely crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), makes fundamental long-term changes to both health entitlement programs, converting Medicaid into a block grant and turning Medicare into a type of voucher system. [The Hill, Earlier]