We are pleased to introduce this special tribute issue to John L. Mikesell (1942-2019) in Tax Notes State. As a mentor of graduate students and scholars in public finance, Professor Mikesell encouraged subscribing, reading, and contributing research to Tax Notes State as a way to understand the machinations of tax policy from the vantage point of thought leaders in the field. As a walking encyclopedia of tax policy and the recipient of lifetime achievement awards from both the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management and the National Tax Association, he possessed a level of authority that inspired compliance with his recommendations for becoming a better scholar. He emphasized to his colleagues that it is more important to be read by the right people than be praised for publishing in obscure academic journals, and modeled this himself, with his own original research often appearing in Tax Notes State. After he retired and could more independently control his time, he expanded his role with Tax Notes State in the form of a regular column he would call “Research From Flyover Country,” which reflected not only his commitment to the journal but also his humorous wit. We encourage you to peruse his work, and be sure to read the many footnotes for which he was quite famous.
— Siân Mooney, dean of the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Justin Ross, associate professor at the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
John Mikesell wrote the book on fiscal administration. He simply titled it Fiscal Administration, but there was never any risk of confusing it with other works; everyone in the field knew John’s book, just like they knew his work on sales and property taxes, and the entertaining and illuminating asides that made his footnotes so lively. When I first got into tax policy, I saw John’s name everywhere: I didn’t know him yet, but it was clear that everyone else did. Over the years, he was extraordinarily gracious, always happy to answer my questions, even in retirement.
Everyone who ever had the privilege of talking with John, hearing him speak, or even just reading some of his voluminous output on tax policy and public finance, is better for the interaction. Even policymakers who never heard his name were guided by the ideas he advanced. He was an implacable foe of bad tax policy, an architect of tax systems the world over, and also a man who doted on his grandchildren, foraged for wild mushrooms, and took his cat on walks. He will be missed.
— Jared Walczak, director of state tax policy at the Tax Foundation
John literally wrote the book on public finance, knew everything, and worked with everyone. I emailed him often for advice, which he freely gave. Many times I would pick up the phone and it would be him to ask about an assertion or a footnote or a reference we had written. We gently sparred over whether Montana’s resort taxes are “sales taxes” or not. He showed up in comments on my Facebook page, offering nuggets of wisdom and occasionally getting surprised “Are you the John Mikesell who wrote Fiscal Administration?” replies. One of my best working days was when I went to Bloomington to present John with an award for all his work, in front of his colleagues who gave him a standing ovation. He is universally admired by those in the field and his loss will be felt.
— Joseph Bishop-Henchman, counsel at McDermott Will & Emery LLP