Paull Mines, Multistate Tax Commission General Counsel, dies. (In Memoriam).

Editor's Note: The following tribute was written by June Summers Haas, a partner with Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn in Lansing, Michigan, who until earlier this year served as Michigan's Commission of Revenue. She formerly served as director of the Multistate Tax Commission's National Nexus Program.

On August 29th Paull Mines, General Counsel for the Multistate Tax Commission, passed away in Denver, Colorado, after a long battle with several illnesses, including cancer. He was 60 years old.

Paull had become a fixture in the state and local tax community. He joined the legal staff of the MTC in 1989. Over the years he has become well known for his defense of federalism, worldwide unitary taxation, and a two-factor business income test.

Dan Bucks, Director of the MTC, stated, "We have lost a great friend and colleague. There is much that needs to be remembered about Paull: his great talent, his intellect, and integrity--his deep commitment to and tireless work on behalf of federalism and tax fairness--his wry wit and humor--his selflessness and humility. For those of us who worked closely with Paull, we will remember him as a kind and gentle spirit who supported and nurtured each person around him."

Paull worked on developing uniformity proposals for the MTC and drafted numerous U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of the states. Paull noted in this most recent biography that his current professional passion was preserving "Our Federalism" by developing state tax systems that are understandable, administrable, and fair for taxpayers and States alike, with a view to avoiding post-transactional assessments. Paull was respected and appreciated even though professional views were not always popular with the business community.

"He had an absolute passion about state and local taxation," Diann Smith, General Counsel for the Council on State Taxation observed. "Although we disagreed with about 90 percent of the conclusions he reached, Paull Mines was such an honest, diligent scholar that you knew every position he took was thoroughly researched and backed-up. He made us better at what we did. He was a formidable advocate for the states and he added a lot of fun to our job. He will be missed."

"Paull Mines was a scholar and a gentleman," said Paul Frankel. "He passionately argued his position but he never got angry and he never took opposition personally. He was a terrific lawyer and it's a loss for the field."

Many of those who worked with Paull noted that he was truly committed to making state taxing systems work better. "He really saw the legal issues and broad policy contexts of what the laws were trying to implement," said Michael Mazerov a former co-worker now at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Paull Mines was a graduate of the University of Washington, and received his law degree from Harvard Law School and a Masters degree in Taxation from New York University. He began his professional career in the courtroom for the U.S. Navy as member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He spent 15 years in private practice and then was tax counsel for the Navajo Tribe of Indians prior to joining the MTC. Paull was an adjunct professor of State and Local Tax at Georgetown University in the early 1990s. "He never stopped teaching those around him," said Sheldon Laskin, MTC Nexus School Director, observed. "He would have a conversation with you and teach you three things you didn't know before then thank you for giving him new things to think about."

Paull was fluent in spanish and an avid bicyclist in his free time. At the memorial service held in Denver, a long-time friend of Paull's commented that he always believed that Paull cycled to relieve the stress of writing tax briefs. Michael MacIntyre, Professor at Wayne State University, responded that he always thought Paull turned to state tax analysis to relieve the stress of bicycle racing. Paull Mines with his wry sense of humor would have appreciated that comment.