Bill Gradison
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Willis David Gradison Jr. (born December 28, 1928) is an American politician from
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
who served in the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
from 1975 to 1993.


Early life and education

Gradison, a
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
and received a bachelor of arts degree from
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1949, a master's degree in business administration from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
's Graduate School of Business Administration in 1951, and a doctor of commercial science degree from the Harvard Business School in 1954.


Career in banking and politics

Gradison worked as an investment broker and then served as assistant to the undersecretary of the treasury (1953–1955), and assistant to the secretary of health, education, and welfare (1955–1957). He was then elected to the Cincinnati city council, on which he served from 1961 to 1974. This service included a term as mayor of Cincinnati in 1971 (a position that at the time rotated among council members). Gradison was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and began serving in 1975 (94th Congress). He was the first Jewish Representative elected to the U.S. Congress from Ohio. He began representing Ohio's District 1, but after the
1980 census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...
, he and
Tom Luken Thomas Andrew Luken (July 9, 1925 – January 10, 2018) was an American politician of the Democratic Party from Ohio, serving in the United States House of Representatives during the 1970s and 1980s. Early life and education Luken received h ...
effectively switched districts, with Gradison's district renumbered as
District 2 District 2 may refer to: Places by country *II District, Turku, in Finland * District 2, Düsseldorf, Germany *District 2, Grand Bassa County, a district in Liberia *District 2, an electoral district of Malta *District 2, a police district of Mal ...
. He served until 1993, when he resigned to accept the position of president of the
Health Insurance Association of America AHIP (formerly America's Health Insurance Plans) is an American political advocacy and trade association of health insurance companies that offer coverage through the employer-provided, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care, and individual m ...
.


1980s tax legislation

The 1981, 1984, and 1986 tax acts and the 1983 Social Security act were some of the most important legislation initiated by the Ways and Means Committee during the 1980s.


Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981

In Congress, "Bill" was a member of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, during the 95th through the 101st U.S. Congress, and was closely involved in many successful legislative efforts. One effort was the original sponsorship of the bill providing the income tax indexing clause that was later inserted into President Reagan's famous tax reduction bill of 1981, called The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. This indexing made it so that income
tax bracket Tax brackets are the divisions at which tax rates change in a progressive tax system (or an explicitly regressive tax system, though that is rarer). Essentially, tax brackets are the cutoff values for taxable income—income past a certain point ...
s would automatically be moved up as the inflation rate rose, so that "bracket creep" would be avoided, whereby income tax rates rise only because of inflation, not because of a rise in deflated income levels. This addition to the 1981 tax bill was very popular, as indicated by its co-sponsorship by a majority of members of the U.S. House of Representatives (sponsorship by a majority of members indicates the bill would be passed if put up for a vote on the House floor). Indexing of taxes became a part of a substitute tax bill, backed by President Reagan in a July 27, 1981 evening address to the nation, and known as the Conable-Hance Substitute Tax Bill, H.R. 4260. Instead of the one year tax cut bill sponsored by Ways and Means Chairman
Dan Rostenkowski Daniel David Rostenkowski (January 2, 1928 – August 11, 2010) was a United States Representative from Chicago, serving for 36 years, from 1959 to 1995. He became one of the most powerful legislators in Congress, especially in matters of ta ...
, or the two-year tax cut bill sponsored by the Senate Finance Committee Chair
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
, the substitute bill was a three-year 25 percent tax cut, with federal estate tax relief and the indexing of tax rates to prevent bracket creep beginning in 1985. And this substitute bill became The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. It was followed by years of widespread tax elusion efforts which eventually triggered legislative countermeasures.


Social Security Reform Act of 1983

Gradison also served as ranking Republican of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security during the Social Security system reform of the early 1980s, and in particular when the Social Security Reform Act of 1983 was passed into law. Included in the 1983 reform act were provisions that Gradison had originated as U.S. Bills. One such provision mandated the computerization of the death certificates of Social Security beneficiaries in order to avoid fraudulent continued payment of benefits when the beneficiary was already deceased. And another such provision included in the 1983 reform act, which was first introduced by Gradison as a U.S. House Bill, was to place the Social Security Trust Funds "off-budget", out of the general Treasury revenue budget, in order to avoid politicizing the reform process of the Social Security system.


Tax Reform Act of 1984

Bill Gradison was also involved in the next major tax reform effort, of 1984. He sponsored a bill that clarified how non-statutory fringe benefits should be treated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in terms of how the IRS should issue regulations on fringe benefits. At the time this was so controversial that Congress had initiated several consecutive moratoriums on the IRS that prohibited them from issuing such fringe benefit regulations. This Congressional clarification of what non-statutory fringe benefits should be taxed, through regulations written by the IRS, was passed into law as a major part of The Tax Reform Act of 1984. It included measures such as the granting of specific tax exemptions for many commonly used fringe benefits.


Tax Reform Act of 1986

Gradison was also involved in parts of the 1986 tax reform legislation. He requested a study by the Joint Committee on Taxation on how far corporate tax rates could be reduced, in a revenue neutral fashion, if the 10% investment tax credit were eliminated. They reported that the top corporate tax rate could fall from 46% to 39%, while eliminating the investment tax credit, and still keep total revenue unchanged. This elimination of the 10% investment tax credit was then included in both the House and Senate versions of the bills that became the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which reduced top corporate tax rates to 34%.


Positions after Congress

The vacancy in the House of Representatives created by Gradison's 1993 resignation was filled by a special election, which was won by fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Robert J. Portman. In 2002, Gradison was appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a founding Member of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is a nonprofit corporation created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 to oversee the audits of public companies and other issuers in order to protect the interests of investors and further t ...
(PCAOB); this Board was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Gradison was unanimously reappointed to a full five-year term in August 2004, and served as Acting Chairman from December 2005 to July 2006. He remained a PCAOB Board member until February 2011. He was named commissioner of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which is an independent Congressional agency established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33) to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program. He served as a MedPAC commissioner for six years. MedPAC's biography of Gradison cites his previous experience as a member of the Health Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means; his Vice Chairmanship of the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Comprehensive Health Care (“Pepper Commission”); his service as Assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; and his Vice Chairmanship of the Commonwealth Fund Task Force on Academic Health Centers. As of 2022, he serves on the board of directors of the
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. that addresses federal budget and fiscal issues. It was founded in 1981 by former United States Representatives Robert Gia ...
.Board Members
CFRB


See also

*
List of Jewish members of the United States Congress This is a list of Jewish members of the United States Congress. , there are 10 Jewish senators and 27 Jewish members of the House of Representatives serving in the United States Congress. Senate Elected to the Senate, but not seated House ...
* List of United States representatives from Ohio


References


External links

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gradison, Bill 1928 births Cincinnati City Council members Harvard Business School alumni Jewish American people in Ohio politics Jewish mayors of places in the United States Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives Living people Mayors of Cincinnati Yale University alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio 21st-century American Jews