Arthur A. Ballantine

Arthur A. Ballantine (1883–1960) was a 20th-century American lawyer, tax specialist, who became the first solicitor of the Internal Revenue Service and Undersecretary of the Treasury under U.S. President Herbert Hoover and later partner in what became the Dewey Ballantine law firm.

Background

Arthur Atwood Ballantine was born in 1883. His father was William Ballantine, president of Oberlin College.

Career

Ballantine was an expert in corporate income taxes.

In 1917, he joined a committee to advise the Commissioner of Internal Revenue on legal questions arising from the new war revenue laws. He focused on the excess profits tax of October 1917.

In 1925, the firm added his name to its name (Root, Clark, Howland & Ballantine): Ballantine headed a growing tax division.

In 1927, Ballantine became advisor to the Treasury as well as the Joint Committee of Congress on Internal Revenue Taxation.

Ballantine was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Practicing Law Institute, Columbia Teachers College, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Harvard University Board of Overseers.

Personal and death

Ballantine had two sons, both of whom attended Harvard University.

Ballantine died in 1960.

U.S. Ambassador John H. Ferguson was Ballantine's son-in-law.

Writings Ballantine wrote articles and speeches on the impact of federal tax policy.

"A Compensation Plan for Railway Accident Claims" (1916) "The Lawyer and the Income Tax" (December 10, 1920) "Some Constitutional Aspects of the Excess Profits Tax" (1920) "The General Sales Tax Is Not On Its Way Out" (1921) "Corporate Personality in Income Taxation" (1921)

Legacy Ballantine's papers at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives include insights into several historical moments: over 40 letters with his father, duties and problems as Undersecretary, details on the "Banking Crisis of 1933," and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's insistence that Ballantine stay and help draft the emergency banking act.