Ex-Senate Finance Committee aide joins prominent tax firm

Mark Prater, who left the Senate Finance Committee’s Republican staff last month after serving for more than two decades, has joined the tax and consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The firm on Monday announced that Prater, who helped craft the GOP tax bill that was signed by President Trump in December, is joining as a managing director in the tax policy services group of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Washington National Tax Services team.

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Prater had previously been the chief tax counsel and deputy staff director for Senate Finance Committee Republicans. He was involved in crafting many tax bills that Congress has passed in recent years — including the tax-cut law, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

“As businesses navigate the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we are thrilled to have Mark join the [PriceWaterhouseCoopers] team,” said Pam Olson, the firm’s Washington National Tax Services leader. “Having played a key role in the TCJA — and indeed in every piece of tax legislation enacted or debated throughout his more than 25 years of service to the Senate Finance Committee — Mark’s insights will be invaluable to our clients implementing tax reform and considering the strategic opportunities the TCJA presents.”

Prater is one of several prominent GOP tax aides that has left Capitol Hill for the private sector in recent weeks. Others who have recently made the move include aides to the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

PriceWaterhouseCoopers is home to a number of big names in the tax world, including former Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), former aide to Ways and Means Committee Democrats Janice Mays and former McConnell aide Rohit Kumar. Earlier this year, the firm hired Bill Wilkins, who served as IRS chief counsel during President Obama’s administration.