Advocacy is the heartbeat of NAEA and one of the highly prized benefits of membership.
NAEA advocacy—a critical component of our government relations activities—seeks solutions to problems to promote and protect the rights of enrolled agents. Most importantly, NAEA advocacy ensures that your voice is heard on the essential role of enrolled agents in the tax administration process and provides a platform to educate legislators and policymakers and to participate in the democratic process.
Shoulder-to-shoulder with NAEA advocacy is the NAEA political action committee (NAEA PAC). The NAEA PAC is a powerful tool for supporting candidates for public office who are aligned with NAEA’s policy agenda, engaging enrolled agents in our advocacy work, and increasing member involvement and recognition. When members make voluntary contributions to the NAEA PAC, they are making a deliberate decision to get politically involved with the policy issues enrolled agents care about most.
By law, associations like NAEA are prohibited from providing direct political support to candidates in the form of corporate or individual dollars to fund federal elections. For this reason, federal and state election commissions allow political action committees (PACs) to be used as a means of providing individuals who share common interests a way to leverage their financial support for candidates who they support. The dollars used to fund candidate campaigns come from members, not from the organization itself.
There are more than 4,600 active, registered PACs in the United States, one-third of which are association PACs (trade associations and professional societies). PACs play a positive role by getting more people involved in the political process and building relationships with their members of Congress. They are a popular and transparent means of participating in and financing federal elections. PACs continue to be the most widely used way for associations to engage in elections.
The NAEA PAC plays an essential role in advocating for our issues at the federal level, working toward positive results for tax policy and tax administration, and protecting the enrolled agent’s right to practice. Member contributions to the NAEA PAC are welcome at any time and can be made online at NAEA PAC.
Disbursement decisions for the NAEA PAC are made through the following criteria:
- The legislative issues of greatest concern to EAs are generally those of tax policy and tax administration, which originate in the congressional tax-writing committees. Therefore, NAEA PAC generally limits its contributions to incumbent members of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, with a focus on the leadership of those committees. Exceptions to this provision may be considered for non-tax writing committee members whose direct role in tax-related issues warrants NAEA PAC support.
- Our goal is to use the NAEA PAC to interact directly with members of Congress, to discuss issues important to enrolled agents, to raise awareness of the profession, and to inform members of Congress about NAEA and the competency and professionalism of the enrolled agent community.
- The NAEA PAC Board approves NAEA PAC disbursements through a majority vote.
With the 2022 midterm elections upon us, it is essential to ensure that members of Congress understand the importance of enrolled agents to our tax system. Thirty-six members of the House Ways and Means Committee and nine members of the Senate Finance Committee are up for re-election in November 2022. NAEA member participation in the PAC this year will play a significant role in our ability to support re-election campaigns for these members of Congress.
The NAEA PAC annual solicitation campaign begins in May 2022. Show your support for NAEA’s advocacy priorities and make your voice heard where it counts with a contribution to the NAEA PAC.
