Jonathan D. Anibal, CPA 2009-2010 MACPA Chair of the Board

• Stay abreast of issues. MACPA offers continual updates through E-News, legislative updates at task force meetings and events, and articles on the website and in Leaders’ Edge.
• Find out who your elected leaders are. Better yet, call, write, or have breakfast. Forging a relationship will open the door for dialogue. You may be pleasantly surprised at how much our elected leaders value our opinion and financial expertise. (Login to the MACPA website, click on Government Relations, then select My Legislators in the left-hand menu bar.)
• Be part of our grassroots effort. Anyone can volunteer to become a participant in our State Legislative Keyperson Program. Our government affairs staff will help you establish a two-way relationship with your public officials. Your primary responsibility is to act as a resource for office-holders on tax, accounting and business-related issues. Read more about grassroots involvement on our website.
• Give a few (more) dollars to the MACPA PAC. Over the past decade, MACPA’s legislative agenda has been flooded with issues important to our profession including simple majority firm ownership; 150 hours; post Sarbanes-Oxley reform and more. Today we’re dealing with expansion of sales tax to include services; tax-preparer licensure/registration; increased professional liability exposure; MBT reform, and more.

The MACPA’s ability to effectively advocate on behalf of our profession is largely based on relationships with office-holders. Your PAC dollars are critical to the development of these relationships. PAC dollars help get us a seat at the table when these issues are discussed.

The upcoming November election is monumental: we’ll elect a new governor, a new Senate and a new House. (Read more in this article) Furthermore, we’ll charge them with creating policy to reinvent the state and transform the economy. They are going to need a lot of help. As they work to reshape Michigan’s future, one of the key tools to affect change is tax policy – and that’s our sweet spot. We need to be involved and let them know they can rely on CPAs to serve as honest brokers of valuable information.

Representation in the legislative process, and making it easy for you to get involved at some level, are among the many advantages of MACPA membership. It’s a benefit – and just as valuable as saving money on CPE or through affinity programs like our auto and homeowners insurance programs.

Make it your New Year’s resolution to take advantage of all the MACPA has to offer.

Top