[Emile]

You say tax accountants aren't really contributing, the president blames tax accountants for fostering unpatriotic "inversions". Which is it?

I head a corporate tax department at a multinational. We all work hard to keep up with both compliance with tax law and compliance with government and accounting requirements for public companies, while also assisting our management in minimizing the company's worldwide tax liabilities. Without our compliance contributions, our company could not stay open and supply its goods to customers.

I agree with a previous poster: anyone who calls us unproductive has a lot to learn about our free enterprise system. If you want to reduce our numbers, work to reduce government regulation of our companies.

[ClearCase_guy]

Taxes in general are an industry created by the government and for the government. People involved in tax law perform a crucial and necessary function -- in feeding Big Government. In today's world, no one can survive without tax accountants and tax attorneys.

But does it create wealth in the same way that a dairy farm or a steel mill creates wealth?
No.