An identical amount was spent on "Accountants, compliance & legal services," so one may assume that's where the money went.
Ralph Thomas, executive director of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, said a sales tax on accountants would send people elsewhere to seek accounting services.
According to people who have spoken to government investigators, prosecutors in the Enron case recognize the complexity presented by the reliance on accountants and lawyers, but nevertheless are actively exploring bringing accounting fraud charges.
Then, five years later, the group succeeded in forcing regulators to dilute proposed restrictions on accountants.
The bill would require faster disclosure of financial data and insider trading and would set limits on accountants doing audit and non-audit work for the same clients.
Above all, the supply-siders say, less money will be wasted on accountants and lawyers hired to find ways to dodge taxes when the rates were higher.
But she says she cannot help but feel uneasy with the barrage of news about Enron and its ripple effects on accountants' careers.
This would be "only very slightly more regressive", says Nathan Gardels, an adviser to the group, because the poor would get a sales-tax rebate and rich people tend to spend more on services (on accountants, lawyers, fitness instructors, etc).
But many feel that this self-restraint does not go far enough.Barbara Boxer, a Democratic senator, has proposed a legal ban on accountants offering consulting services to companies they are auditing.
Last month, relying on accountants to review only the undervotes, USA Today and The Herald reported that Mr. Bush would have won Florida under nearly every standard had the United States Supreme Court allowed a hand recount to continue.
