Roger J. Traynor
| Roger J. Traynor | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Chief Justice of California | |
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In office September 1, 1964 – February 2, 1970 |
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| Appointed by | Pat Brown |
| Preceded by | Phil S. Gibson |
| Succeeded by | Donald R. Wright |
| Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court | |
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In office August 13, 1940 – September 1, 1964 |
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| Appointed by | Culbert Olson |
| Succeeded by | Stanley Mosk |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 12, 1900 Park City, Utah |
| Died | May 14, 1983 (aged 83) Berkeley, California |
| Spouse(s) | Madeline E. Traynor (née Lackman) |
| Children | Michael J. Traynor, Joseph M. Traynor, and Stephen C. Traynor |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley (B.A., J.D.) |
Roger John Traynor (February 12, 1900 – May 14, 1983) served as the 23rd Chief Justice of California from 1964 to 1970, and as an Associate Justice from 1940 to 1964. A nationally respected jurist, Traynor's 30-year career as California's 77th Justice coincided with tremendous demographic, social, and governmental growth in California and in the United States of America, and was marked by a belief (in the words of his biographer, G. Edward White) that "the increased presence of government in American life was a necessary and beneficial phenomenon."
At the University of California, Berkeley, Traynor wrote groundbreaking articles on taxation, while serving as editor-in-chief of the California Law Review, and later became a full-time professor in 1936. He also acted as a consultant to the California State Board of Equalization from 1932 to 1940, and to the United States Department of the Treasury from 1937 to 1940. He took a leave of absence from the University in 1933 to work full-time for the Board of Equalization, and another leave in 1937 to help the Treasury Department draft the Revenue Act of 1938.
Before the Great Depression, nearly all California governmental functions were funded only through a general property tax on both real and personal property. This proved unworkable when property values collapsed. Through his work for the Board of Equalization, Traynor was responsible for creating much of California's modern tax regime, including the vehicle registration fee (1933), sales tax (1933), income tax (1935), use tax (1935), corporate income tax (1937), and fuel tax (1937). He served as the first administrator of the California sales tax and supervised its deployment across 200,000 retailers.
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