Big election: and with it comes big changes for California.

• Author: Allen, Bruce C.
• Position: CapitolBeat

As the philosopher Pericles said, lust because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest, in you." Never more has this become evident than in today's political climate of legislative turnover, 12-year term limits, new districts and open primary system.

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From the high-profile presidential election to your local city council race, the decisions that are made on Election Day will have a significant impact on the way California CPAs operate their businesses, the way they represent their clients, what they can and cannot do with their license and--ultimately--their bottom line.

Together, all of these changes necessitate a focus on forging relationships and building a strong, well-funded CPA-PAC.

Did you know that this year there was a bipartisan working group to put together a serious proposal to extend sales taxes to services which may resurface again next year?

How about that up until just days before the budget was passed by the Legislature, there was a provision that allowed the FTB to penalize taxpayers for any tax refund claim that they thought lacked a "reasonable basis?"

Or that there was a bill to require audit firm rotation for any accounting firm that audited municipal governments?

What about the bill that would have required anyone who represented a taxpayer before the county assessor to register with the county regardless of' professional qualifications?

These issues were substantive threats that Ca1CPA worked with legislators to avoid.

Nevertheless, proposals like these continue to crop up every year in the Legislature.

One of the largest reasons proposals like these keep popping up is because legislators--especially those recently elected--don't always fully grasp what a CPA is, what CPAs do or how important they are to the taxpayers and business in California. With California's legislative term limits, there will be a large turnover of legislators after the election. At least 35 new legislators will be elected, who may or may not know anything about the CPA profession and their clients. Despite their lack of familiarity with the profession, these freshmen legislators will be voting on bills that will impact California CPAs and their clients.

Since this will also be the first general election using the newly drawn legislative districts, many voters will find themselves lumped into new districts with unfamiliar legislators. Just the same, legislators will have new...