Principal Tax Analyst Mark Luscombe's Sailing Passion

Parallel passions keep this CCH principal tax analyst sharp
 
 
At first blush, you might not think sailing and bird-watching have a thing in common. But look beneath the surface and you will see many parallels. “In both these activities, you are highly tuned to your environment,” says Mark Luscombe, JD, CPA.
 
“In sailing you are always tweaking the sails, making little adjustments for the wind, watching for approaching storms, or looking around to see what the other boats are doing,” he says. “In bird-watching, you must be aware of the environment, listen carefully and use location, behavior and sound, as well as appearance, to complete an identification. You use little pieces of information to build a bigger picture.”
 
Years of pursuing both passions have kept Luscombe sharp in his work as principal tax analyst at CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business. He monitors tax legislation, fields questions, and watches for tax storm clouds on the horizon. In tax analysis and interpretation, you need to tune into the tax and legal environment — just like sailing and bird-watching, you pay close attention and use little pieces of information to build a bigger picture, Luscombe says. Luscombe began sailing, after moving to Chicago in 1976, as a member of a Naval Reserve sailing group. Shortly after, he started competing in the grueling Race to Mackinac (“the Mac”), the longest annual freshwater distance race in the world. The Mac runs 333 nautical miles from Chicago to Mackinac Island in Upper Michigan.
 
His fascination with bird-watching is no surprise for a CPA and attorney. It’s all about listening carefully, watching for clues, and paying attention to detail. Just like tax laws or court cases, birds can look alike until they’re examined closely. “The rarest bird I’ve seen in the Chicago area is a vermilion flycatcher,” he says. “But they can be confused with tanagers or cardinals, which also have red on them.”
 
How can you tell you’re good at bird-watching? “Some people keep a life list of every bird they’ve seen, and that’s one measure. But I think it has more to do with how quickly you can come up with the right answer.” That’s a good definition of a sharp tax analyst, too.