Paul J. Hartman and the Literature of State and Local Taxation-An Appreciation

The editors of this symposium have asked me for a brief account of the contributions of Professor Hartman's published writings in the field of state and local taxation. In fairness, those contributions cannot be accounted in brief; what follows is more of a bibliography, and an appreciation... As a final example of Hartman's concern for institutional relationships in tax policy, mention should be made of the 1959 piece on municipal income taxation.' Here, Hartman has changed lenses on his microscope and examines not the relationship between the nation and the states but that between the states and the cities. His concern is both with the needs of the cities for revenue and for correcting the unfair imposition of costs on cities by non-taxpaying suburbanites.

Characteristically, Hartman finds in recent doctrines denying cities the power to impose municipal income taxes" precisely the sort of unrealism and disregard of fiscal needs he had found in the interstate decisions. After his attack, Hartman just as characteristically offers suggestions for drafting strategies and litigation tactics aimed at optimizing the values sought in spite of restrictive judicial opinions.