Joe Bishop-Henchman is a lawyer and policy analyst who has lived in Washington, D.C. after moving from California in 2004. 

He has worked with elected officials and stakeholders to achieve major state-level tax changes, advised on the interplay between federal and state policy changes, and assisted nonprofits, business groups, and reporters in studying and developing proposals.

Policy Experience

• Joe has testified or presented to officials in 36 states and to Congress six times, and has written more than 90 major studies on tax policy.
• Joe has authored over a dozen briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on constitutional issues relating to tax, with the Court majority opinion in Wayfair v. South Dakota (2018) twice citing the brief he authored and adopting the rule he had recommended.
• Joe has played a role in tax reforms in a dozen states, including major tax overhauls in North Carolina in 2013, Indiana and the District of Columbia in 2014, New York (corporate tax) in 2015, and Iowa in 2018.
• Joe successfully worked with state tax administrators to develop guidance for same-sex tax filers between the Windsor and Obergefell decisions, has advised states on the design of marijuana taxes, and is currently one of three co-plaintiffs challenging the IRS’s collection of excessive PTIN fees.

Professional Experience

• Joe is an attorney with McDermott Will & Emery’s state and local tax (SALT) group in Washington, DC, where he counsels clients on tax compliance, policy and controversy matters. He monitors state tax trends and policy developments, learns and shares insights on problematic tax policies and practices, and helps clients handle problems holistically and efficiently.
• Previously as vice president at the Tax Foundation, Joe created their first marketing team and strategy, grew staff overall from 11 to over 30, and helped increase annual fundraising from $1.6 million to $5.5 million.
• Joe worked in the historic 2003 California recall election as a press/policy aide to gubernatorial candidate and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, helped organize rallies against wasteful spending and the curfew law in his native San Diego County, and interned with the Office of the DC Attorney General (equity), Citizens Against Government Waste (transportation policy), and University of California (outreach in California’s Central Valley).
• Joe has been a copy room manager and an aide at a day care center for 2- and 3-year-olds. His college activities included the Cal Libertarians and student government, and his law school activities included student government, Lambda Law, and the Federalist Society.
• Joe has earned a reputation as an organizer, balancing short-term versus long-term, comprehensive versus incremental, and structure and innovation.
• Joe frequently advises non-profit organizations on compliance, strategic execution, and fundraising.

Education & Honors

• Joe holds a law degree from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. He also has a certificate in International Legal Studies from McGeorge School of Law from their summer program in Salzburg, Austria.
• In 2010, Joe was identified in State Tax Notes as among four people who “will likely dominate the field in the next 10 years,” and his work building the Tax Foundation’s state policy program was honored as most influential in state tax policy for three years running. His expertise has been cited by The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The (Baltimore) Sun, The Orange County Register, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN, NPR, ABC News, Bloomberg, C-SPAN, CNBC, Fox, Forbes, Fortune, Governing, Barron’s, Kiplinger’s, Stateline, Reuters, the Associated Press, and by 75 law review articles.
• Joe was elected chair of DC Libertarian Party in 2018 and currently serves as one of 17 members of the Libertarian National Committee. He is also national policy director for the Libertarian Pragmatist Caucus. He served as chair of the Libertarian Party Bylaws Committee in 2018, obtaining delegates’ approval of a record nine proposals. From 2013 to 2015, he chaired the alumni board of Students For Liberty.
• Joe is admitted to practice law in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Personal

• Joe lives in northeast Washington, DC with his husband Ethan, an operations manager at the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy and a postulant for holy orders in the Episcopal Church. In November of 2018 they had the great fortune to be adopted by their black labrador, Magic.