Tax Policy Challenges

Abstract

In 1995, when the late, great Jack Nolan asked me to deliver the inaugural lecture in honor of Larry Woodworth, I was both honored and flattered. I had come to know Larry Woodworth beginning in 1969, when I was a rookie treasury tax policy staffer. At that time, he had already served the Joint Committee on Taxation for 25 years and had been the third Chief of Staff in its history beginning as chief of staff in 1964. Larry Woodworth was not only as knowledgeable about the tax law as anyone you would ever hope to meet, and as savvy about congressional politics as anyone I have ever known, but he was also an exceptionally kind and generous man. He was courteous to a fault, virtually always had a smile on his face and was always calm, no matter how tired he was or how much pressure he faced. Larry always had time to chat with the lowest persons on the totem pole. I know that, because, in those days, I was the bottom. Larry had his policy views, but he always "played it straight" with the members of Congress. He was the finest example of a public servant I have ever known.