Koch Industries, the privately held conglomerate run by right-leaning billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has retained global law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP for Capitol Hill advocacy work on issues related to taxation.

GD&C has been hired by the Wichita, KA-based multinational for help with “U.S. Federal Income Tax Reform issues,” according to lobbying registration documents filed in April.

The Kochs, whose refineries rely on Canadian oil, have been highly critical in recent months of a border adjustment tax portion of the GOP’s current corporate tax reform proposal which may drastically overhaul how imports are taxed in the U.S.

Koch Bros

That border adjustment plan, originally penned by House Republicans and backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, would allow U.S. companies to deduct exports from taxable income while levying a 20 percent tax on the import of foreign goods and materials.

Retailers and U.S. companies that rely on imported wares have derided the proposal, claiming such a move would significantly raise the cost of imported goods, and thus, increase the consumer prices of everyday items.

Advocates — which includes U.S. companies that manufacture exported goods — claim the plan would encourage companies to buy and produce more products made in the U.S., thus potentially creating more jobs. This, they claim, would eventually increase the value of the U.S. dollar, thus offsetting any increases in consumer prices as well as the new tax burden companies must pay for those foreign goods.

Several Federal Reserve economists in February expressed doubt that the plan on its own would be enough to raise the dollar’s value and noted that it could hurt U.S. foreign trade and raise domestic prices, which could make prices unattractive to foreign buyers and thus, actually slow exports rather than stimulate them.

The Koch brothers, who have publicly stated that the reforms “could be devastating” to the economy, in January circulated a Koch-financed study published by Interindustry Forecasting at the University of Maryland, which claimed that the tax proposal could cause unemployment to rise to 11 percent and result in unemployment worse than the 2008 recession.

In April, another report issued by Koch-backed advocacy groups Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners detailed a supposed state-by-state breakdown of the effects the tax plan could have if it becomes reality. Americans for Prosperity in April also unveiled a TV ad opposing the border tax.

Koch Industries, which imported 80 million barrels of Canadian tar sands oil in 2015 alone, is one of the nation’s largest importers.

President Trump hasn’t yet officially endorsed the border adjustment plan. After months of initially appearing against the idea, he admitted to Reuters in February that it “could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States.”

GD&C partner Benjamin Rippeon manages the Koch account.