Spotlight on PwC’s Washington National Tax Co-Leader Rohit Kumar

Our Spotlight series highlights the careers and lives of tax professionals around the world. This week’s Spotlight is on Rohit Kumar, a principal and co-leader of PwC’s Washington National Tax Services practice.

Kumar advises clients on all aspects of domestic policy, including tax policy, so they can develop legislative strategies from both a technical and political perspective. Before joining PwC, he was the domestic policy director and deputy chief of staff for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and served 11 consecutive years in the Office of the Republican Leader for three different senators.

When he’s not working, you might find Kumar watching “The Amazing Race” with his daughter, snacking on Reese’s peanut butter cups, or dreaming about being a scuba diving instructor.

What’s your official title and what does it mean? My title is Washington National Tax Services co-leader. It means that I help lead our Washington national tax office. Some days I’m more helpful than others, depending on client demands and such, but day to day, it makes me one of the two people who helps clients (and other PwC people) make sense of what’s happening in our nation’s capitol. I tend to focus on the domestic front, while my co-leader, Pat Brown, is the lead on all things international. But we do so much together that he’s taught me a good bit of international, and I’d like to think I’ve been able to impart some domestic wisdom in exchange.

Free time: book, audiobook, or podcast? Free time—what is this you speak of? A regular book would be my go-to whenever that happens.

Tax is a huge subject. What’s your area of special interest? My area of interest isn’t in a particular area of tax but rather in how tax law gets made. What motivates governments across the globe to make the choices they make and how those varied motives express themselves in the choices they’ve made.

What’s the last movie or show that you watched and loved (DVD, Netflix, or in the theater)? I have an embarrassingly low bar for being entertained, so I will happily watch just about anything that allows me to tune out for a bit. The shows I especially love are the ones I can watch with my family—so, “Ted Lasso” and “Tehran” with my wife and “The Amazing Race” with my daughter. We have this dream of being on the show and study each episode like a coach watching game film. It’ll probably never happen, but it’s a fun fantasy.

What college did you attend and what did you study? Duke University for political science and economics, and University of Virginia for law school. I am an Atlantic Coast Conference partisan.

Go-to pick-me-up: Coffee or tea? Black coffee, no cream or sugar to interfere with caffeine absorption. I’d take it intravenously if allowed.

What’s the best tax or financial advice that anyone ever gave you? “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” It’s not just financial advice but is really a guiding principle. I’m an optimist by nature, so I’ve had to force myself to consider the possibility that not everything will work out all of the time and to make sure to have prepared accordingly.

If you weren’t working in the tax profession, what would your dream job be? In the real world, I’d probably be a federal prosecutor. That was the track I was on before a detour to Capitol Hill put me on a different path. In my fantasy, world I’d be a nomadic scuba diving instructor. I love to dive and also enjoy teaching and, no matter the time of year, there’s always someplace to dive with great weather.

If you had the opportunity to make one change in the tax world—an extra credit, a disallowed deduction, whatever—what would it be? I’m a “broaden the base, lower the rates” kind of guy, so there’s not a specific provision I’d change. Rather, I’d be in favor of taking nearly all the incentives in the code and converting them dollar for dollar into direct grant programs. No judgment on the virtue of the incentives, but putting them into the tax code introduces all sorts of unhelpful political and economic distortions. We could achieve the same societal goals with properly constructed direct spending programs instead.

Favorite food, snack, or candy during tax season or other busy time? Reese’s peanut butter cups. Whoever figured out that chocolate and peanut butter belong together deserves a Nobel prize.

What tax news or move made the most impact on your practice or clients this past year? The OECD’s Pillar Two project, and especially the EU’s adoption of a directive to implement Pillar Two, has triggered waves or concern and uncertainty among corporate taxpayers and is beginning to get increasingly significant attention from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

If you received a big tax refund check right now, what would you do with it? “Spend, save, share” is what we have always preached to our daughter when she received cash gifts for Christmas or her birthday, so I’d follow the same. Maybe spend a little on some of those heavenly peanut butter cups, save some for the next scuba diving trip, and share with the charities that we have found personally fulfilling. My wife works on affordable housing and homelessness issues, so we’ve gravitated to charities that work in those fields. We also are lifelong adopters of rescued animals and occasionally have done animal fostering, so that’s another charitable cause that is near and dear to our hearts.

You can find out more about Kumar on LinkedIn and on Twitter at @rokumar1918.

You can learn more about Kumar’s role at PwC here.

If you’d like to recommend a tax pro to be featured, send your suggestion to rbaker@bloombergindustry.com with the subject: Spotlight. Please include the following information: tax professional’s name, title, email address, and geographic area (city/state/country).