In Memoriam: Jim Lyons, Senate Finance Committee Staffer

The tax world lost a good friend yesterday with the passing of Jim Lyons. For the past eight years, Jim was a senior Republican staffer on the Senate Finance Committee. He was extremely well liked and respected by people on both sides of the political aisle.

Jim, 43, joined the committee in 2008 when Senator Chuck Grassley was chairman. Shortly after Jim suffered a heart attack during a recent charity basketball game, current Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said in a statement that Jim brought “with him a distinguished record of academic achievement, professional accomplishment, and public service. Those of us lucky enough to associate with Jim know him to be a smart, tough-but-very-fair tax policy expert with a very quick and mischievous wit.”

As one committee staffer wrote me last night: “Jim was an irreplaceable member of the Senate Finance team, and his sharp wit and humor will forever be missed by his colleagues and friends in Congress. He will never be forgotten and we can’t imagine a world without him.”

On behalf of the entire Tax Foundation family, our sympathies and prayers go out to Jim’s family and the entire Finance Committee community.