CPAC is Done: Now What? Three Steps to Ready Positive Change

by How Money Walks author Travis H. Brown

Perhaps you returned home from a large conference (like #CPAC2013) feeling the urge to transform your state.  Maybe you heard from a Governor or a Congressman and now you are fired up to engage your local community.  It’s  time to arm yourself with some #howmoneywalks facts to have in the palm of your hand.

Enhancing your book library, reading list, and referrals to others are all great ideas.  However, if you want to make an immediate impact on the next face-to-face visit, it makes more sense to keep this kind of community empowerment data with you wherever you travel.  Here are three simple recommendations about how to advocate, lobby, or inspire for your local cause using these applications:

1. If you carry an ipad or kindle, download the book from www.howmoneywalks.com.  That way, the big picture news about your region, your state, or your city, is indexed and ready for you at a moment’s notice.
2. Download the Smartphone application and spend three minutes using it before your next engagement.  For iphones, it is called the taxpayer data explorer.  On Androids, it’s just the how money walks application.  Get familiar with searching your county, your city.  Understand what adjusted gross income (AGI) charting really show your community.  Practice flipping your community results from both the “wealth” mode to the “population” mode.  This three minutes of your life – in an airport, on the train, or while you’re watching the news, can really help you shape local arguments.
3. Engage local stories using your app’s data.  Almost every week, there is a local newspaper or television story about tax rates, tax migration, or local tax policies.  With your application in hand, you can quickly look up the area in question, and add some relevance to this debate.  Young Americans interested in retaining graduates in Michigan?  Start the debate about what’s happened over the last 15 years.  Going to a county town hall where two counties will discuss tax rates and growth?  Bring #howmoneywalks data on both to the table.

The purpose of sharing this data across America was not academic.  It was designed for you to use – first by understanding, then by thinking about it, and then by acting on your thinking.  Please share your comments, questions, or ideas for app improvements as you explore the applications!