Henry Harper; Suit Overturned Va. Pension Tax

Henry Harper, 85, a onetime veterinarian and Department of Agriculture official who led a prolonged court battle to gain tax refunds for retired federal workers, died June 27 at Capital Hospice in Arlington County. He had Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Harper began his career as a veterinarian in the Midwest and Texas before becoming a livestock inspector and public health veterinarian. He joined the Agriculture Department as a meat inspector in the 1950s, moved to the Washington area in 1962 and held several administrative positions before retiring in 1985.

His retirement was anything but serene after he took up what seemed at the time a foolhardy cause.

As a former federal worker and Arlington resident, Dr. Harper was required to pay state taxes on his federal pension when retirees from state and local governments paid no taxes on theirs. The anomaly had been on the books in Virginia since 1942, but in Dr. Harper's view, that didn't make it right.

Backed by a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision that states could not tax federal pensions at a higher rate than state or local pensions, Dr. Harper believed that he had the law on his side. But when he went to the Virginia General Assembly to plead his case, he was laughed out of a meeting with the state Senate's Finance Committee.

"I don't want to sue you," he warned the lawmakers, "but you're forcing me."

As president of the Virginia chapter of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, Dr. Harper assembled a group of 400 Virginia retirees and asked each to contribute $50 for a legal challenge, giving birth to the case of Harper v. Virginia Department of Taxation .

In essence, he demanded that the state refund almost $500 million in taxes collected from about 200,000 retirees between 1985 and 1988 -- the only years for which he could seek restitution, under the statute of limitations. He organized groups from 22 other states to mount similar cases.

In February 1990, an Alexandria judge ruled against the retirees, saying the state was free to tax federal pensioners while exempting state and local workers. A year later, the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously agreed.

Undeterred, Dr. Harper and the retirees pressed on, taking their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In June 1993, his patience was vindicated when the court ruled, by a 7 to 2 vote, that the Virginia tax provision -- and those of 15 other states -- was illegal.

"I'm a fighter," Dr. Harper told The Washington Post upon learning of the decision. "What's wrong is wrong and what's right is right. It isn't the money. That's a drop in the bucket. It's the principle."

Federal retirees in Virginia were entitled to refunds totaling $467 million, but the state was in no hurry to pay out, and the dispute continued to fester. It became an issue in the 1993 governor's race between Republican George Allen and the Democratic candidate, Mary Sue Terry, who vowed to fight the payments in court.