Taxing times: columnists' perspectives: a special look back at 15 years.

• Author: Rogers, Will
• Position: Final entry

For the celebration of the 15th anniversary of California CPA, we turned to our Tax Talk columnists, who have both been writing for us since the magazine's early days. Federal tax columnist Stuart R. Josephs, CPA (SJ) has a San Diego-based Tax Assistance Practice and is the chair of the Federal Subcommittee of CalCPA's Committee on Taxation. California tax columnist Leonard W. Williams, CPA (LW) is a Sunnyvale-based sole practitioner, and a member of the CalCPA Committee on Taxation as well as the AICPA Tax Division.

What is one of your earliest memories of CalCPA publications?

SJ: One of my earliest memories of CalCPA publications is the July 1988 issue of the then-monthly newsletter in which my Federal Tax Column first appeared. I covered the recently enacted 1988 legislation and received, surprisingly, quite a few questions from readers. Fortunately, I was able to answer them to the readers' satisfaction.

LW: My earliest memories of CalCPA publications are the chapter bulletins, which used to be snail mailed monthly, and The California CPA Quarterly, which was the predecessor to the present magazine.

How did you start writing for California CPA?

SJ: I started writing for California CPA when the chairman of the CalCPA Committee of Taxation in 1988 asked me to write the Federal Tax Column for California CPA's predecessors, the monthly newsletter and the quarterly magazine.

LW: I started writing "Tax Highlights" for the Peninsula Chapter Bulletin probably in the early 1980s, then they started appearing in the other chapters' bulletins. Shortly after that, they began appearing in the The Calfornia CPA Quarterly newsletter.

What's been the biggest tax change you've seen over the years?

SJ: The biggest tax change I have seen over the years is the replacement of the 1939 Internal Revenue Code by the 1954 Internal Revenue Code and its replacement by the 1986 Internal Revenue Code (enacted by the 1986 Tax Reform Act).

LW: The biggest tax change that I've seen over the years has been the increase of the complexity in the Internal Revenue Code.

How do you keep up with the seemingly constant change to tax law?

SJ: I keep up with the constant tax law changes by constant reading. Every day, I lightly read the 1RS' electronic communications, such as Guidewire, E-News and the AICPA's daily newsletter. Every evening, I thoroughly read the available Daily Tax Report, the Wall Street Journal, the RM Weekly...