It’s my (mostly) annual call for guest posts. As I have done in years past, I’ll be turning over this space to my readers for one week. This year, however, there’s a bit of a twist. I’m accepting submissions for what we’re dubbing “Tax Reform Week” on Forbes. The week will kick off on September 10 and will feature tax reform related pieces and commentary from a variety of sources.
That’s where you come in.
I’m looking for guest posts with a focus on tax reform. You can reflect on the historical context, suggest the possibility of success, or discuss which taxpayers might be most affected by the current proposal. You can even offer your suggestions for reform. It’s a pretty broad topic, and I’m willing to entertain tax reform related topics from estate tax repeal to border adjustment tax to tax cuts. That said, anything that’s clearly meant to be an “issue piece” about something other than taxes (i.e., abortion, immigration, gun control) will be disregarded.
Please note that I cannot post all submissions. I plan to post a handful of those which represent a mix of viewpoints on each of the issues. That means it’s to your advantage to write a thoughtful piece and to get it to me relatively early.
You don’t have to be a tax expert to submit a post. The call is for all taxpayers, not just professionals and tax geeks. Other bloggers and writers may participate, too. I’m not looking for the most eloquent or the most formal pieces but rather those which effectively communicate an interesting viewpoint.
Here are a few more guidelines because you know I’m a lawyer and I like rules:
- Posts should be submitted to kelly.erb@taxgirl.com by Friday, September 8, 2017, at 11:59 pm EST. Please put “Guest Post” in the title.
- Entries should be between 400 and 1500 words. To put that in context, this post is 831 words.
- Send your entry in plain text or Word, either as a text file or just typed directly in the body of the email. No other attachments or formats will be accepted – and for the love of S corporations, don’t send me any zip files. I will not open them (if you have charts or infographics for the piece, just tell me about them in the email and I’ll follow-up if necessary).
- You must include your full name and your email address with your entry. I won’t publish your email address but I do need your contact information. I respect your privacy, and I will not send you anything unrelated to guest posts.
- By submitting an entry, you agree that I may post any part or all of your submission including your name, with the exception of your email address. You will not be paid for your submission.
- By submitting an entry, you also agree that your post is your own work. I can’t imagine why you’d submit anything that wasn’t.
- Posts won’t be redacted or edited so write with care and use common sense.
- No swearing, no personal attacks, no bad behavior. Keep it clean and reasonably nice. My mother could be reading. And the last thing I need is a call from my mother explaining that people on my blog aren’t very nice. I don’t want to have to increase her blood pressure medication because of something that you wrote.
- No spam, no selling products or services, no free advertising. If you’re just looking for free publicity, write your own blog.
- You will get your own byline for this submission. Please also include a one to two sentence bio/personal statement identifying yourself, something along the lines of “Bob Smith is a volleyball coach from Wilkesboro, North Carolina.” If you have an established blog or website, you can include a link so long as it’s safe for work. And by work, I mean traditional workplaces: just because you can view it in your basement doesn’t mean that it would make the folks at Bank of America or IBM happy. So, nothing racy, violent, racist or otherwise disturbing. And that’s my call, not yours.
- Like one of the most famous judges of our time (no, not Judge Learned Hand but Judge Judy), my ruling is final: the decision on which posts to publish will be at my sole discretion. If I don’t choose your piece, please don’t take it personally: it could be something as simple as I might have received a number of similar submissions. Please don’t call, email, Skype, message, tweet or send smoke signals to me to ask why.
- As with all guest posts, there is some accompanying paperwork that you’ll need to take care of before we publish (it’s painless, I promise).
I look forward to reading your submissions!
