A new jobs bill
"Pass this jobs bill." "You should pass it right away." This was the refrain, over and over again, when the president spoke to Congress earlier this month about his vision for a new jobs bill. "Pass this jobs bill, and starting tomorrow, small business will get a tax cut…" Seriously? Was Congress supposed to vote that night on a bill that hadn't even been written, and enact the bill so that tax cuts would take place the next morning?
Excuse me, but aren't we supposed to be putting the brakes on bullies? This shove-it-down-your-throat attitude of "Just do it because I say so," is wearing heavily on a nation that needs more than band-aid legislation. As accountants, we are immersed in sifting through the new laws and helping our clients find the golden nuggets that will help them in their businesses, and looking for the roadblocks that will prevent them from moving ahead. At the same time, we're all hoping for a miracle that will turn the economy around. Is the jobs bill going to do the job?
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Perry is a CPA and a former senior tax accountant with Big Four firm Deloitte. She maintains a small tax practice, she is a personal finance instructor, and the author of thirty books, including Surviving Financial Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income (Adams Media); QuickBooks on Demand (Que); Excel 2007 Macros Made Easy (McGraw Hill); The Complete Idiot's Guide to Doing Your Income Taxes (Alpha/MacMillan); and, most recently, Mint.com for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons). In addition, she is a former columnist for the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News daily newspapers.
Perry is a nationally recognized speaker who advises public accountants on using Internet tools to improve their accounting practices. She also taught a college-level introductory accounting class and was on staff at the Indiana CPA Society as a computer applications instructor. For five years, she was a contributing editor for Accounting Today magazine before taking over the helm at AccountingWEB.
Perry is a graduate of Indiana University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She returned to school to study accounting at Illinois State University, passed the CPA exam (in one sitting!), and worked for Deloitte in the Chicago tax department.
Gail has been named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor magazine and the American Society of Women Accountants.
