With Daniel Lippman H&R BLOCK HIRES S-3: H&R Block has hired a new outside lobbying firm with close ties to House GOP leaders as conservatives in Congress target a new infusion of cash the IRS received last year and as the tax prep industry continues to bash a free online filing pilot program the IRS plans to roll out next year. — S-3 Group’s Marty Reiser and Matt Bravo, former aides to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, began lobbying for the tax prep company on issues related to tax prep services, data privacy, cybersecurity, tax fraud prevention and IRS funding at the end of October, according to a newly filed disclosure. — Olivia Kurtz, a former chief of staff to Senate Appropriations ranking member Susan Collins; former Hill approps aides John Scofield, Martin Delgado and Chanda Betourney and former House Democratic leadership aide Kevin Casey are also working on the account, according to the disclosure. — The hire came days before House Republicans, under newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, passed an Israel aid package coupled with a $14.3 billion cut in funding for the IRS that was billed as an offset (the nonpartisan CBO projected the cuts would add an extra $12.5 billion to the federal deficit over a 10 year period instead). — The package is a nonstarter in the Senate, where negotiations over an aid supplemental for Israel and Ukraine now hinge on bipartisan immigration talks, but the House bill was the latest effort by Republicans to slash IRS funding that was included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. — While H&R Block and other tax prep providers have lauded the new funding for the IRS, they’ve assailed one of the key byproducts of that cash influx, the free file pilot program that would compete directly with tax prep companies. — S-3 Group is the first new outside firm for H&R Block since last year, when the company added three new firms and reported more than $2.6 million in lobbying expenditures. Others in the tax prep space have brought on more lobbying help in the past year as well, with TurboTax owner Intuit adding seven outside firms in 2023 alone. The American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights, whose members include H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, TaxSlayer and Intuit, retained Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, one of the top firms on K Street, this spring. — A registration filing from around the same time indicated that the Free File Alliance, a nonprofit consortium of companies partnering with the IRS to provide free online tax prep, had done the same, though Brownstein filed termination paperwork a month and a half later claiming it hadn’t done any registrable activity for the organization. — The industry’s lobbying against a direct file program attracted renewed criticism from lawmakers in August, when they demanded information about tax prep companies’ lobbying efforts and revolving door staffers. Happy Thursday, and welcome to PI. Don't let those hot lobbying tips go stale over the holiday recess, 'tis the season for giving: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. FORMER TRUMP AIDE JUMPS TO CGCN: Former Trump White House aide Ja’Ron Smith is leaving Dentons Global Advisors Government Relations to join GOP lobbying firm CGCN Group as a partner. Smith served as a domestic policy adviser to former President Donald Trump and was deputy director of the White House Office of Innovation. — He also served as Trump’s liaison to several key House committees and was a key architect of Trump’s signature criminal justice reform law, the First Step Act, and before working in the White House, worked for Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). — Since leaving the White House, Smith served as executive director of the Center for Advancing Opportunity at Thurgood Marshall College Fund. At DGA, he’s lobbied for several criminal justice-adjacent clients, including the criminal justice reform organization founded by rapper Meek Mill and the Jewish criminal justice organization Tzedek Association, as well as the Equitable Housing Access Partnership, Dream Corps and EV battery maker ProLogium. Meek Mill's nonprofit, Reform Alliance, is one of several clients that Smith will bring with him to CGCN. BEHIND COMER'S SHELL COMPANY: House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) “has attacked some Biden family members, including the president’s son Hunter, over their use of shell companies that appear designed to obscure millions of dollars in earnings they received from shadowy middlemen and foreign interests.” — But The Associated Press’ Brian Slodysko reports that “as Comer works to ‘deliver the transparency and accountability that the American people demand’ through the GOP’s investigation, his own finances and relationships have begun to draw notice, too, including his ties to prominent local figures who have complicated pasts not all that dissimilar to some of those caught up in his Biden probe.” — The AP found that Farm Team Properties, a shell company Comer co-owns with his wife that represents the congressman’s ownership of 6 acres of land he bought with a campaign donor, “functions in a similarly opaque way as the companies used by the Bidens, masking his stake in the land that he co-owns with the donor from being revealed on his financial disclosure forms. Those records describe Farm Team Properties as his wife’s ‘land management and real estate speculation’ company without providing further details.” — “It’s not clear why Comer decided to put those six acres in a shell company, or what other assets Farm Team Properties may hold. On his most recent financial disclosure forms, Comer lists its value as being as much as $1 million, a substantial sum but a fraction of his overall wealth.” — Comer “declined to comment through a spokesman but has aggressively denied any wrongdoing in establishing a shell company.” And following publication of The AP’s report, he “responded during an appearance on FOX News, stating that Farm Team Properties ‘has five different assets and lots of revenue.’” — “He didn’t reveal what those other assets may be. He also falsely claimed that the donor, Darren Cleary, ‘wasn’t a campaign contributor’ at the time the property was purchased. Cleary and his family have donated to Comer’s political campaigns since at least 2010, records show.” GOING GLOBAL: Democratic digital and public affairs consultancy Bully Pulpit Interactive has acquired the European consulting firm BOLDT, and will rebrand as Bully Pulpit International to reflect its new foothold overseas. — BOLDT’s teams in Europe will continue to operate under their existing organizational structure and retain the BOLDT name, but as policymakers in Europe and the U.S. face key elections next year and work to craft landmark regulations on policy from AI to data privacy and climate, the acquisition will allow each firm’s clients to work with a single public affairs and strategic comms firm. — The combined firm will comprise more than 250 staff across 10 offices in six countries, with outposts in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, D.C., Düsseldorf, London, New York, Oslo, San Francisco, and Zürich. Bully Pulpit’s clients have included the Biden 2020 campaign, Uber, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the ACLU, McDonald’s, Instacart and Walmart. NEW SMALL BUSINESS COALITION LAUNCHES: A business coalition launched this week with the goal of elevating the priorities of small business owners before policymakers in Washington. Americans for Small Business kicked off with a Hill reception that featured House Small Business Chair Roger Williams (R-Texas) and Reps. Carol Miller (R-W.Va.) and Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), as well as former Democratic Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Kendra Horn. — The group will be led next year by Howard Makler, the CEO of a company called Innovation Refunds that tapped into a goldmine of consultants working to help small businesses apply for a Covid-era tax credit in exchange for a cut of the tax refund.
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