Helen Elizabeth Garrett withdrew as President Obama's nominee for the post of Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy over the weekend, leaving tax experts to complain that the delay in filling the slot will hamper the administration's efforts to make changes in the federal tax code.
"It's a bad thing, it's not good news," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. "She was very well respected. Without a strong person in that position it really adversely affects the making of tax policy."
Obama had nominated Garrett, a lawyer, tax expert, and vice president for academic planning and budget at the University of Southern California, at the end of March.
But she withdrew as a nominee on Sunday, telling administration officials, "Unfortunately, aspects of my personal family situation have required that I reassess my initial decision to be considered for this office."
It did not appear that Garrett had any specific experience with municipal bonds, but she had been involved in hospital projects financed with munis and research projects on infrastructure involving state and local governments, according to sources. She also had served on President George W. Bush's nine-member bipartisan Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, which had made tax reform recommendations to Congress that were never acted upon.
Her withdrawal forces the administration to renew its search for someone to fill the post, but tax experts have not heard any new names.
"I've got a feeling this may take awhile," said Howard Gleckman, a senior research associate at Urban Institute and editor of TaxVox, the center's tax and policy blog. "I think they were not planning for this."
