This Nov. 2, Pennsylvania voters will go to the polls to elect several judges. It’s no secret that these municipal election years tend to lack the luster of other years, but don’t fall into that sense of complacency. The decisions made during these elections will have resounding public policy impacts for years to come.

The PICPA State Tax Steering Committee and their colleagues at the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants recently met to tighten the connections between the two organizations and to work collaboratively to uncover and resolve potential cross-state tax issues.

This year, we experienced a political unicorn in Harrisburg. Not only were the 2021-2022 state budget negotiations relatively painless, but also everything was voted on in an expedient fashion and the budget was wrapped well before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Adding to the overall ease of the process – and probably another political unicorn – was the state’s revenue surplus and unused funds received from the federal government for COVID relief.

Much of politics is local, to paraphrase former U.S. Speaker of House Thomas P. O’Neill, and Pennsylvania voters in May 2021 will determine who will vie for positions in the county courthouse, townships, boroughs, and school boards. This year’s primary election, however, has added significance with proposed amendments to the state constitution.

Political action committees get a lot of bad press. A quick google search brings up terms like “dark money” and “slush fund,” but this could not be further from the truth. The Certified Public Accountants Political Action Committee, for example, specifically supports the mission of the PICPA by helping to elect bipartisan, respectable candidates who support strong fiscal policy and other positions favorable to CPAs.