Kennedy and Johnson administrations

Following President Kennedy's election, his then-Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy, Stanley Surrey, asked Lubick to serve as Tax Legislative Counsel for the Office of Tax Policy at the Department of the Treasury, one of the highest tax policy positions in the Executive Branch.^[5][6] Lubick was a registered Republican at the time. As a result, prominent Democrats initially opposed his appointment.^[12][5][6] Surrey appreciated Lubick's combination of practical experience and policy analysis. The opposition relented after local Erie County Democrats intervened and the White House determined Lubick would be able to serve the Kennedy Administration well.^[12]

Lubick left Hodgson Russ for the first time in September 1961 to serve as Tax Legislative Counsel, a position he held for two and a half years under both President Kennedy and President Johnson.^[15] While at the Treasury, Lubick worked on the development and passage of President Kennedy's tax reform legislation, the Revenue Act of 1962 (P.L. 87-834) and the Revenue Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-272).^[5] Lubick remained at the Treasury until 1964 before returning to Buffalo to practice law at Hodgson Russ.

Carter administration

Laurence Woodworth, former Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee of Congress and President Carter's first Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, recruited Lubick to return to the Treasury Department in 1977. Lubick joined the Carter Administration and initially served under Woodworth as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Legislation.^[15]

Upon Woodworth's sudden death in December 1977, Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal recommended to President Carter that Lubick replace Woodworth.^[13] In a memo to President Carter, Blumenthal stated he found Lubick “extremely competent and reliable to work with.”^[13] The American Bar Association's Tax Section and former Internal Revenue Service Commissioners, as well as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Russell B. Long (D-LA) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Al Ullman (D-OR) supported Lubick's nomination.^[13] Lubick was confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy on June 23, 1978.^[16]

Lubick was a longtime advocate for comprehensive tax reform and played a key role in drafting the Carter Administration's tax legislation.^[15] Facing opposition in Congress, the Carter Administration later scaled back its tax reform plans, and President Carter signed the Revenue Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-600) into law without significant reform, although some of the proposals later were adopted during the subsequent Reagan Administration.^[12] Lubick was also instrumental in crafting one of the most significant reform proposals of the Carter Administration, Reorganization Plan No. 4, which allocated significant aspects of the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) between the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service.^[17] In addition to tax reform, Lubick was also involved in developing President Carter's energy legislation.^[18][19]

As the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, Lubick was often called on to testify before Congress with respect to the Carter Administration's position on tax legislation. He testified on various tax matters, including recognition of unrealized capital gain at death,^[20] limiting tax-exempt securities to finance single-family housing,^[21] disallowing tax credits for political campaign contributions,^[22] limiting tax-free treatment for both employer and employee fringe benefits,^[23] and requiring tax withholding for independent contractors to avoid the necessity of a dispute whether a worker is an employee rather than an independent contractor.^[24]

Clinton administration

From 1994 to 1996, Lubick served as Director of the Treasury Department's Office of International Tax Assistance to Developing Countries at the OECD in Paris. He travelled roughly half of every month to visit two or more of the participating countries—Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine—to review the work of his representatives and meet with the key persons of the countries' finance ministries.^[11]

Lubick was recalled to fill the position of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy in June 1996 and was confirmed by the Senate on February 12, 1998.^[11]

In December 1998, Lubick worked with then-Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers on a pensions initiative to create a universal retirement savings proposal separate from Social Security.^[25] President Clinton announced the proposal in his 1999 State of the Union address.^[25] It has never been adopted.

Similar to his time in the Carter Administration, Lubick often testified before Congress to present the Clinton Administration's position on tax legislation. He testified on various tax proposals, including opposing tax incentives for U.S. oil and gas producers,^[26] supporting President Clinton's proposed budget,^[27] raising concerns about corporate tax shelters,^[27] supporting small business tax relief,^[28] supporting long-term funding for the Airport and Airway Trust Fund,^[29] expanding pension coverage and retirement benefits for low-income workers,^[30] and advocating for taxpayer rights proposals.^[31]

In 1997, as Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, Lubick led the development of a package of 59 proposals intended to protect taxpayer rights and provide for tax simplification.^[32] Most of these proposals were adopted by Congress in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997.^[33]

Lubick was also heavily involved in the preparation and release of the Treasury Department's influential policy study on the deferral of income earned through U.S. controlled foreign corporations.^[34] As Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, Lubick outlined the fundamental international tax policy principles that would guide the Treasury in its evaluation of the options for reforming or replacing the subpart F regime as in place at the time.^[35]