Robert Rafuse, an internationally recognized expert on government finance and tax policy, died March 13, 2014. He was 77.
Rafuse graduated in 1958 from Harpur College in upstate New York (now Binghamton University). He earned a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton in 1964. After a year of teaching economics at the University of Illinois, he moved to the Washington, D.C., area where he remained until retiring in 2007.
He held positions with the U.S. Treasury Department, the Brookings Institute, the National Planning Association, and the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. He advised the federal government, states, and localities throughout the country on public-finance issues.
From 1979 to 1987, he was the deputy assistant secretary of the treasury for state and local finance, and a key figure in such policy areas as the Revenue Sharing Program, federal loan assistance to New York City, and the ending of Washington’s dependence on the Treasury for short- and long-term financing. In the 1990s, he was a senior adviser on USAID-sponsored projects assisting Macedonia, Poland, and the Russian Federation as they reformed their tax and fiscal policies.
Rafuse is survived by Diane, his wife of 52 years; three sons; and two granddaughters.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.