H. WILLIAM BATT, Ph.D.

One of the earliest Peace Corps Volunteers, with subsequent experience as an academic, a business and not-for-profit administrator, a political leader, policy researcher and advisor, seeks challenging opportunities in academia or the public or private sector. Noted since 1994 in Marquis Who's Who in the East, 26^th edition, and Who's Who in America since 55^th edition.

Current Positions: Executive and Principal Researcher, Central Research Group, Inc.

• Research and consulting on relationships between transportation, tax, and land use policies under contract to state and municipal governments and foundations.

Administrative and Business Experience (most recent first):

• President and Executive Director, Central Research Group, Inc. CRG is a non-profit 501(c)(3) research and educational cooperative of scholars established in Ithaca in 1976. Its work is funded through grants and contracts.

• Director, Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, the pre-eminent American organization dedicated to the dissemination of the ideas of Henry George, through grant support, publication, and general advocacy.

• Director, Center for the Study of Economics, a national research and information organization for study of Georgist economic approaches, 1995 to present (Secretary from 1998 and after).

• Staff Political Scientist, Legislative Tax Study Commission, 1984-92. Had special responsibility for design and evaluation of user fees, particularly for transportation and environment. Served as the political scientist in an interdisciplinary team of five professionals. Participated in all phases of Commission Reports.

• Assistant Research Director, Legislative Commission on Critical Transportation Choices, State of New York, 1983 84.

• Budget Analyst, Department of Transportation, State of New York, 1982 1983.

• Administrative Director and Fellow, Central Research Group, Inc.,1978 1981.

• Vice President and Marketing Director, 1976 1981. Interwolf was the exclusive American representative for a line of European planetarium and astronomy equipment.

Earlier Academic Interest and Expertise:

Organization Theory, Comparative Public Administration, Political and Economic Development, and Asian Studies. Dissertation was "Obligation and Decision in Thai Administration: From Patrimonial to Rational-Legal Bureaucracy," (the relationship between moral reasoning and social structure).

Teaching:

• Teaching Fellow: Northern Illinois University; SUNY Albany
• Instructor: Russell Sage College, Siena College
• Assistant Professor: SUNY Binghamton, U. of Baltimore
• Adjunct Professor (Part Time): Marist College MPA Program, 1994.

Consulting: Miscellaneous free lance consulting for both private and public institutions, 1976 to present: reorganization of not-for-profit organization business office (1976); feasibility study for a planetarium in Albany, New York (1982); design of fees for public agencies and local governments (1993-4); analysis of property and school tax data in selected cities in upstate New York testing the feasibility of site-value taxation (1996); formulation of policy options for real property tax reform in New York State in a Monograph under contract to American Association of Retired Persons (1996; copy available upon request). “Feasibility of Site Value Taxation in the State of Minnesota: Olmsted County (Rochester MN) as a Hypothetical Test Case,” Performed under contract with the Minnesota Planning Department, June, 1999, incorporated into later agency report entitled "Smart Signals," available at www.mnplan.state.mn.us; Advisor to Philadelphia City Controller, on “Tax Structure Analysis Report,” November, 2001 www.philadelphiacontroller.org/tax.htm.

Education:

• A.B., Government, U. Massachusetts, 1962, Honors.
• M.A., Political Science & Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, 1967.
• Inter-University Consortium for Political Research, University of Michigan, Statistical Methods in Social Sciences, Summer, 1967.
• Ph.D., Political Science, School of Public Affairs, SUNY-Albany, 1974. Major concentration: Public Administration; Minor Concentrations: Comparative Politics, American Politics, Political Philosophy.

Professional Writing and Publications (selective and limited to the past twenty-five years; earlier writing was in another field of interest, no longer relevant):

On issues of Public Finance Not included in above are policy papers prepared for Legislative Commissions. All such policy papers are for the internal use of the New York State Legislature.

• "Infrastructure: Etymology and Import," Journal of Public Issues in Engineering, Jan.,1984.
• "Heavy Vehicle Highway User Charges," Presented at General Conference Session, Federation of Tax Administrators 1989 Motor Fuel Tax Conference, Indianapolis, October, 1989.
• "Truck User Fees and the Level Playing Field: U.S. and Canada Compared," presented at a conference on Expanding International Economic and Social Opportunities through Technology: Canada in the North American Common Market, Skidmore College, October 24-25, 1991.
• "Designing Surface Transportation Finance," a paper presented to the Royal Thai Government Ministry of Finance, Bangkok, Thailand, November, 1991.
• "Dedicated Highway and Consolidated Transportation Funds," presented at the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., January, 1992.
• "Can the Bicycle Save America," New York Bicycling Coalition News, Oct., 1992.
• "A Proposal to Limit the Mortgage Interest Deduction and Thereby Raise More State Revenue," State Tax Notes, Vol 4, No. 1 (January 4, 1993), pp. 46-50.
• "User Fees: The Nontax Revenue Alternative," State Tax Notes, Vol 4, No. 14 (April 5, 1993), pp. 787-794.
• "A General Theory of Earmarking," State Tax Notes, Vol.4, No. 24 (June 14, 1993), pp. 1420-1437.
• "A Transportation Development District Fee Using a Land-Value Component," Annual Conference, Council of Georgist Organizations, Los Angeles, July, 1993.
• A Framework for Designing a Transportation Development District," Northeast Regional Conference of the American Society for Public Administration, Albany, October, 1993.
• "Does Federal Imposition of Taxes and Fees Preempt State and Local Imposition?" State Tax Notes, Vol. 6, No. 14 (April 4, 1994), p. 897.
• "How the Railroads Got Us on the Wrong Economic Track," The Torch, Winter, 98. Nominated for the Torch International Clubs Paxton Award for the outstanding presentation of the year. Online at www.cooperativeindividualism.org/batt_railroad_1.html.
• "Taxing to Foster Sustainable Communities," Third Annual Mid-Atlantic Conference on Sustainable Development, Ramapo College, April 18-20, 1997.
• "Motor Vehicle Transportation and Proper Pricing: User Fees, Environmental Fees, and Value Capture," presented at TOES97: The Other Economic Summit, Denver, June 20-22, 1997; Ecological Economics Bulletin, Vol. 3, #1 (First Quarter, 1998). pp. 10-14. Online at www.cooperativeindividualism.org/batt_on_transportation.html
• "Toward a Default Assessed Land Value for American Tax Jurisdictions," Presentation at the Global Institute for Taxation, World Trade Center, October 1-2, 1999.
• "The Merits of Site Value Taxation," Presentation at the Global Institute for Taxation, World Trade Center, October 1-2, 1999. Online at new.stjohns.edu/academics/graduate/tobin/research/institutes/gift/tax.sju
• "Shifting Taxes to Land in Des Moines, Iowa: A Simulation of its Impact," Presented at the Conference of Georgist Organizations, Des Moines, IA, September, 2000.
• "Value Capture as a Policy Tool in Transportation Economics: An Exploration in Public Finance in the Tradition of Henry George," The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol 60, No. 1 (January, 2001), pp 195-228; reprinted in Laurence S. Moss (ed.), City and Country. Malden MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. Online at www.urbantools.net/pdf/ValueCaptureAsAPublicFinanceTool-BillBatt.pdf
• Occasional Columnist, under contract with the Henry George Foundation of America, most recently to write weekly essays in the Amsterdam (New York) Recorder on the merits of site-value taxation, from November 12, 1995 through March 31, 1996.
• "Fallacies of the Slippery Slope Argument," The Torch, Vol.75, No.1, Fall,2001. Online at www.torch.org/fall2001.pdf
• “Stemming Sprawl: The Fiscal Approach,” in Matthew J. Lindstrom and Hugh Bartling (Eds.), Surveying Sprawl: Culture, Ecology, and Politics. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
• “Modeling Land Rent and Transportation Costs in the United States,” in Janet Milne, et.al., (eds.), Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation: International and Comparative Perspectives, Volume 1. London: Richmond, 2003. Online at www.cooperativeindividualism.org/batt-stemming_sprawl.html
• Facilitated the translation into the Thai language and subsequent publication of Henry George’s Progress and Poverty, along with a partner book entitled The Unjust Poverty, 2002.
• “The Fallacy of the ‘Three-Legged Stool’ Metaphor” State Tax Notes, Volume 35, No. 6, pp. 377-381 (February 7, 2005). Online at www.cooperativeindividualism.org/batt_on-tax-policy.html
• “Painless Taxation”, submitted to the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal tax Reform, April, 2005, and forthcoming online.
• “Who Says Cities are Poor?” April, 2005, forthcoming online.
• “Moral Reasoning and Social Structure: A Cross Cultural View,” Presented to the Albany Torch Club, February 2nd, 2004, selected for publication in The Torch (forthcoming, at www.torch.org/fall2005

Recent Book Reviews: David Bollier, Silent Theft: (Routledge, 2003). www.progress.org/revboll.htm
Molly O’Meara, Reinventing Cities, Worldwatch, 1999. www.progress.org/revmolly.htm
Andro Linklater, Measuring America, Walker, 2002. www.cooperativeindividualism.org/batt_review_of_linklater_on_measuring_america.html
David Barlett & James Steele, The Great American Tax Dodge Little-Brown, 2000, & David Kay Johnson, Perfectly Legal, Penguin, 2003, www.progress.org/2004/batt02.htm
Richard Heinberg, The Party’s Over, New Society, 2003. www.progress.org/cg/batts03.htm
Lindy Davies, The Alodia Story. HG Institute. www.progress.org/2004/alodiarev.htm
Hernando DeSoto, The Mystery of Capital. Basic, 2000. www.progress.org/2005/hitrev.htm

Major Writing and Speaking on issues of Death with Dignity (1983-1997)
excluding media interviews, letters to the editor, and other incidental engagements

• Written and composed Hemlock Branch, the bimonthly chapter newsletter of the New York Capital District Hemlock Society, 1987-1997, now the publication of The Hemlock Society of New York (samples available upon request).
• "It's past time to let people who wish die with dignity," an op-ed piece, Albany Times Union, Sunday, March 13, 1988, p. C-2.
• "Death with Dignity," an op ed piece, Albany Times Union, August 18, 1988, p. A-14.
• Debate with Daniel Callahan of the Hastings Center for Medical Ethics on the nationwide PBS broadcast series "Search for Common Ground", 1991.
• Euthanasia debate with Kathleen Gallagher, Associate Director of the New York State Catholic Conference, broadcast on NYSCAN, October 17, 1991.
• "Technology and Medical Ethics" at the New York Public Sector Coalition on Health Benefits Conference in May, 1992, published in Health Exchange, Vol 6, No.1 (Summer, 1992).
• Debate with Burke Balch, Legislative Director of National Right-to-Life, at West Virginia Network on Medical Ethics Conference, Morgantown, May, 1993, and again in Schenectady, New York, in October, 1995.
• "In the moral debate over euthanasia, where's the clergy?" Albany Times Union, May 24, 1993.
• Review of Sherwin Nuland, How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter, in Timelines, The Newsletter of The Hemlock Society, USA, August, 1994.
• "Hemlock Society Advocates Press for Changes on Physician-Assisted Death," Maturity Today, June, 1996.
• "Rethinking Life and Death: What is a Human Being?," Address to the Capital District Humanist Society, Albany, New York, August 11, 1996.
• Panelist and speaker, Albany Law School Conference, Physician-Assisted Suicide: Legal, Bioethical and Policy Implications, April 10, 1997.
• Contract columnist, with the Hemlock Society national office, writing pieces for national distribution advocating legislation on death with dignity with physicians' assistance.

Other Community Service Activities (selective and most recent first):

• Director, National Hemlock Society, 1989-1994 (Treasurer, '93-94).
• President and Founder, Hemlock Society of New York, 1987-1998.
• President, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Northeastern New York, 1986-1991; and again 1998-2002.
• Vice President, Albany International Center, fall, 1988 to summer, 1990.
• Board Member, AIDS Council of Northeastern New York, 1987-1988.
• Finance and/or Personnel Committees, First Unitarian Society, Fall, 1987-88.
• Secretary, Albany Memorial Society, 1983-1986; President, 1973-1974.
• Chairman, & then Vice Chairman, Town of Ithaca Democrats, 1979, 1980-1981.
• Chairman, Board of Trustees, Unitarian Society of Ithaca, 1977-1981.
• Democratic Candidate, Town of Ithaca Supervisor, 1975, 1977.
• Board Member, Tompkins County Health Planning Council, 1975-1976.
• Peace Corps Volunteer, Thailand, 1962-1965.
• Board Member, United Nations Association, NYS Capital District Chapter, 2004 on.
• Frequent public advocate for various causes reflective of involvements listed above.

5/2005

Last modified: 10 June 2005

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