Randolph E. Paul
Encyclopedia
Randolph Evernghim Paul (1890-1956) was a lawyer specializing in tax law. His is credited as "an architect of the modern tax system."
on August 8, 1890 to Charles B. and Martha Evernghim Paul. He worked his way through Amherst College
(Class of 1911), and received his law degree from New York Law School
in 1913. He began his career as a switchboard operator and, later, as an insurance adjuster.
. Though lacking any background in the field, Paul answered the ad, got the job, and within two years had become a name partner in the firm.
Over the next twenty years, the firm's name underwent various changes: first Holmes, Paul and Havens; then Holmes, Lynn, Paul and Havens; then Olcott, Holmes, Glass, Paul and Havens; and finally Olcott, Paul and Havens. In 1938, Paul left his small firm to form the tax law department at one of New York’s oldest and then-largest firms, Lord, Day & Lord. By this time, Paul was a pioneer in establishing tax law as an integral component of a full-service Wall Street
law firm. He was the author of the leading treatise on tax law in the United States (the six-volume Law of Federal Taxation with Jacob Mertens, and successive editions of Studies in Federal Taxation), and a visiting Sterling Professor
of Law at Yale Law School
.
, the first tax lawyer ever to occupy the position. Throughout the 1930s, Paul served as a part-time advisor to U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
Five days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Paul finally accepted previously-declined entreaties to work full-time for the U.S. Treasury Department. First as special assistant to the Secretary for the Tax Division, and later as the Department’s General Counsel
, Acting Secretary of the Treasury for Foreign Funds Control, and the Roosevelt
Administration’s chief spokesperson on tax matters on Capitol Hill, Paul convinced Morgenthau to embrace Keynesian principles and to consider taxation as a vehicle for social progress.
To this end, Paul was instrumental in defeating attempts to enact a regressive national sales tax and in transforming the federal income tax into the broad-based revenue source and tool of fiscal policy that exists today. The Government’s existing income tax system – in which taxpayers need not pay their tax bill for one year until the next, when the value of the dollar had fallen – exacerbated the problem. The confluence of these events required an exceptional solution, which the Paul-written Revenue Act of 1942
addressed. Paul is credited with modernizing the Internal Revenue Code
and persuading Congress to enact the payroll withholding tax.
. Entitled "Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of the Jews", written by Josiah DuBois. The document was an indictment of the U.S. State Department’s diplomatic, military, and immigration policies. Among other things, the Report narrated the State Department’s inaction and in some instances active opposition to the release of funds for the rescue of Jews in Romania
and occupied France, and condemned immigration policies that closed American doors to Jewish refugees from countries then engaged in their systematic slaughter.
The catalyst for the Report was an incident involving 70,000 Jews whose evacuation from Romania could have been procured with a $170,000 bribe. The Foreign Funds Control unit of the Treasury, which was within Paul’s jurisdiction, authorized the payment of the funds, the release of which both the President and Secretary of State Cordell Hull
supported. From mid-July 1943, when the proposal was made and Treasury approved, through December 1943, a combination of the State Department’s bureaucracy and the British Ministry of Economic Warfare interposed various obstacles. The Report was the product of frustration over that event. On January 16, 1944, Morgenthau and Paul personally delivered the paper to President Roosevelt
, warning him that Congress would act if he did not. The result was Executive Order 9417 creating the War Refugee Board
composed of the Secretaries of State, Treasury and War. Issued on January 22, 1944, the Executive Order declared that “it is the policy of this Government to take all measures within its power to rescue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death and otherwise to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war.”
, the firm of Paul, Weiss, Wharton & Garrison. Based on his reputation gained in the Treasury Department, Paul attracted such blue-chip clients as Ford
, General Motors
, Standard Oil of California, Brown Shoe Company
, B.V.D. Company
, Reader’s Digest, Union Sulpher Company, and the estates of the rich and famous. In addition to his private practice, Paul continued writing, including Taxation for Prosperity (1947), a studied argument for postwar maintenance of a progressive income tax; The History of Taxation in the United States (1953); and dozens of articles for journals such as The Harvard Law Review, The Yale Law Journal, The Tax Law Review and The Tax Lawyer.
Paul maintained a teaching schedule as an adjunct professor at Harvard and Howard University Law Schools, among others. He briefly returned to government service as a part-time Special Assistant to President Truman for tax policy and later as the President’s envoy to the negotiations between Switzerland
and the Allied Powers on Nazi assets in Switzerland – a controversy that stayed alive for a half century after his death. He was a frequent witness before congressional committees on tax and fiscal policy, testifying on the proper role of taxation in the Nation’s social and fiscal programs.
’s Economic Report. Having completed his prepared text, Paul began to answer a question when he slumped forward, dead of a heart attack.
Biography
Paul, the grandson of a butcher, was born in Hackensack, New JerseyHackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
on August 8, 1890 to Charles B. and Martha Evernghim Paul. He worked his way through Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
(Class of 1911), and received his law degree from New York Law School
New York Law School
New York Law School is a private law school in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. New York Law School is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. The school is located within four blocks of all major courts in Manhattan. In 2011, New York Law School...
in 1913. He began his career as a switchboard operator and, later, as an insurance adjuster.
Early law career
In 1918, Paul happened upon an advertisement placed by one George E. Holmes soliciting assistance in Holmes’ specialty practice in federal income tax law, a still novel concentration in the years just following adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionSixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results...
. Though lacking any background in the field, Paul answered the ad, got the job, and within two years had become a name partner in the firm.
Over the next twenty years, the firm's name underwent various changes: first Holmes, Paul and Havens; then Holmes, Lynn, Paul and Havens; then Olcott, Holmes, Glass, Paul and Havens; and finally Olcott, Paul and Havens. In 1938, Paul left his small firm to form the tax law department at one of New York’s oldest and then-largest firms, Lord, Day & Lord. By this time, Paul was a pioneer in establishing tax law as an integral component of a full-service Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
law firm. He was the author of the leading treatise on tax law in the United States (the six-volume Law of Federal Taxation with Jacob Mertens, and successive editions of Studies in Federal Taxation), and a visiting Sterling Professor
Sterling Professor
A Sterling Professorship is the highest academic rank at Yale University, awarded to a tenured faculty member considered one of the best in his or her field...
of Law at Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
.
Civil service
In 1940, he was named a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New YorkFederal Reserve Bank of New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey,...
, the first tax lawyer ever to occupy the position. Throughout the 1930s, Paul served as a part-time advisor to U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played a major role in designing and financing the New Deal...
Five days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Paul finally accepted previously-declined entreaties to work full-time for the U.S. Treasury Department. First as special assistant to the Secretary for the Tax Division, and later as the Department’s General Counsel
General Counsel
A general counsel is the chief lawyer of a legal department, usually in a corporation or government department. The term is most used in the United States...
, Acting Secretary of the Treasury for Foreign Funds Control, and the Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
Administration’s chief spokesperson on tax matters on Capitol Hill, Paul convinced Morgenthau to embrace Keynesian principles and to consider taxation as a vehicle for social progress.
To this end, Paul was instrumental in defeating attempts to enact a regressive national sales tax and in transforming the federal income tax into the broad-based revenue source and tool of fiscal policy that exists today. The Government’s existing income tax system – in which taxpayers need not pay their tax bill for one year until the next, when the value of the dollar had fallen – exacerbated the problem. The confluence of these events required an exceptional solution, which the Paul-written Revenue Act of 1942
Revenue Act of 1942
The United States Revenue Act of 1942, Pub. L. 753, Ch. 619, 56 Stat. 798 , increased individual income tax rates, increased corporate tax rates , and reduced the personal exemption amount from $1,500 to $1,200...
addressed. Paul is credited with modernizing the Internal Revenue Code
Internal Revenue Code
The Internal Revenue Code is the domestic portion of Federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 26 of the United States Code...
and persuading Congress to enact the payroll withholding tax.
Paul's role in the creation of the War Refugee Board
Paul was also the principal sponsor of the first contemporaneous Government paper attacking America’s dormant complicity in The HolocaustThe Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. Entitled "Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of the Jews", written by Josiah DuBois. The document was an indictment of the U.S. State Department’s diplomatic, military, and immigration policies. Among other things, the Report narrated the State Department’s inaction and in some instances active opposition to the release of funds for the rescue of Jews in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and occupied France, and condemned immigration policies that closed American doors to Jewish refugees from countries then engaged in their systematic slaughter.
The catalyst for the Report was an incident involving 70,000 Jews whose evacuation from Romania could have been procured with a $170,000 bribe. The Foreign Funds Control unit of the Treasury, which was within Paul’s jurisdiction, authorized the payment of the funds, the release of which both the President and Secretary of State Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...
supported. From mid-July 1943, when the proposal was made and Treasury approved, through December 1943, a combination of the State Department’s bureaucracy and the British Ministry of Economic Warfare interposed various obstacles. The Report was the product of frustration over that event. On January 16, 1944, Morgenthau and Paul personally delivered the paper to President Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, warning him that Congress would act if he did not. The result was Executive Order 9417 creating the War Refugee Board
War Refugee Board
The War Refugee Board, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1944, was a U.S. executive agency created to aid civilian victims of the Nazi and Axis powers...
composed of the Secretaries of State, Treasury and War. Issued on January 22, 1944, the Executive Order declared that “it is the policy of this Government to take all measures within its power to rescue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death and otherwise to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war.”
Return to private practice
Paul left the Treasury Department in September 1944 to rejoin Lord, Day & Lord. Eighteen months later, he accepted an invitation to join a law firm then known as Cohen, Cole, Weiss & Wharton and which became, with the addition of Paul and Lloyd K. GarrisonLloyd K. Garrison
Lloyd Kirkham Garrison was an American lawyer. He was Dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School, but also served as chairman of the "first" National Labor Relations Board, chairman of the National War Labor Board, and chair of the New York City Board of Education...
, the firm of Paul, Weiss, Wharton & Garrison. Based on his reputation gained in the Treasury Department, Paul attracted such blue-chip clients as Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, Standard Oil of California, Brown Shoe Company
Brown Shoe Company
Brown Shoe Company is a footwear company that owns a variety of footwear brands in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters is located in Clayton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.-Origins:...
, B.V.D. Company
BVD
BVD is a brand of men's underwear, which are commonly referred to as "BVDs." BVD stands for Bradley, Voorhees & Day, the New York City firm that initially manufactured underwear of this name for both men and women. BVD is now only for men. It was founded in 1876 and named for its three founders.-...
, Reader’s Digest, Union Sulpher Company, and the estates of the rich and famous. In addition to his private practice, Paul continued writing, including Taxation for Prosperity (1947), a studied argument for postwar maintenance of a progressive income tax; The History of Taxation in the United States (1953); and dozens of articles for journals such as The Harvard Law Review, The Yale Law Journal, The Tax Law Review and The Tax Lawyer.
Paul maintained a teaching schedule as an adjunct professor at Harvard and Howard University Law Schools, among others. He briefly returned to government service as a part-time Special Assistant to President Truman for tax policy and later as the President’s envoy to the negotiations between Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the Allied Powers on Nazi assets in Switzerland – a controversy that stayed alive for a half century after his death. He was a frequent witness before congressional committees on tax and fiscal policy, testifying on the proper role of taxation in the Nation’s social and fiscal programs.
Death
On February 6, 1956, Paul was testifying before a Joint Committee of the U.S. Congress on President EisenhowerDwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
’s Economic Report. Having completed his prepared text, Paul began to answer a question when he slumped forward, dead of a heart attack.