Katherine (Katie) Pratt

Katherine (Katie) Pratt, Professor of Law

• Income Tax I
• Tax Policy
• Tax Policy Colloquium
• Business Associations
• Contracts 

Links

• CV
• SSRN

Education

• BA, University of Florida
• JD, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, Distinguished Advocate
• LLM, Taxation, New York University School of Law 
• LLM, Corporate Law, New York University School of Law

Current Scholarly Interests

Federal income tax treatment of medical expenses; soda and junk food excise taxes; obesity regulation; tax expenditures; and federal budget issues.

Selected Scholarship

Works in Progress

• Learning to Live Without Form 1040
• Gender Disparities in Long-term Care, in LAW AND THE 100-YEAR LIFE (Anne Alstott & Abbe Gluck eds, forthcoming)

Published Books and Articles

• The Curious State of Tax Deductions for Fertility Treatment Costs, 28 S. Cal. Rev. L. & Soc. Just. 261 (2019)
• Federal Income Taxation: Examples and Explanations (Wolters Kluwer) (8th ed. 2019), with Joseph Bankman and Thomas Griffith
• Commentary on Magdalin v. Commissioner, in Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tax Opinions 243 (Bridget Crawford & Anthony Infanti ed. 2017)
• The Tax Definition of “Medical Care:” A Critique of the Startling IRS Arguments in O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner, 23 Mich. J. Gender & L. 313 (2016)
• Lessons from the Demise of the Sugary Drink Portion Cap Rule, 5 Wake Forest J. L. & Pol’y 39 (2014)
• The Limits of Public Health Paternalism: Another View, 46 Conn. L. Rev. 1903 (2014)
• Federal Income Taxation: Examples and Explanations (Wolters Kluwer) (7th ed. 2014), with Joseph Bankman and Thomas Griffith
• A Constructive Critique of Public Health Arguments for Anti-obesity Soda Taxes and Food Taxes, 86 Tul. L. Rev. 73 (2012)
• Federal Income Taxation: Examples and Explanations (Aspen) (6th ed. 2011), with Joseph Bankman and Thomas Griffith
• Deducting the Costs of Fertility Treatment: Implications of Magdalin v. Commissioner for Opposite-Sex Couples, Gay and Lesbian Same-Sex Couples, and Single Women and Men, 2009 Wis. L. Rev. 1283 (2009).
• The Boundaries of the Medical Expense Deduction
• Normative Justifications for Food Excise Taxes
• “The Virtual Tax Library: A Comparison of Five Electronic Tax Research Platforms,” 8 Fla. Tax Rev. 935 (2008) (peer-reviewed) (with Jennifer Kowal and Daniel Martin), Awarded the 2009 "Outstanding Article" by the Academic Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries
• “Federal Income Tax: Examples & Explanations” (5th ed.), Aspen Publishers (2008) (with Joseph Bankman and Thomas Griffith)
• "Deficits and the Dividend Tax Cut: Tax Policy as the Handmaiden of Fiscal Policy," 41 Ga. L. Rev. 503 (2006)
• "Federal Income Taxation: Examples and Explanations" (4th ed.), Aspen Publishers (2005) (with Joseph Bankman and Thomas Griffith)
• "Corporate Cancellation of Indebtedness Income and the Debt-Equity Distinction," 24 Va. Tax Rev. 187 (2004)
• "Inconceivable? Deducting the Costs of Fertility Treatment," 89 Cornell L. Rev. 101 (2004)
• "Federal Income Taxation: Examples and Explanations" (3rd ed.), Aspen Publishers (2002) (with Joseph Bankman and Thomas Griffith)
• "The Debt-Equity Distinction in a Second-Best World," 53 Vand. L. Rev. 1055 (2000)
• "Federal Income Taxation: Examples and Explanations" (2nd ed.), Aspen Publishers, (1998) (with Joseph Bankman & Thomas Griffith)
• "Federal Income Taxation: Examples and Explanations" (1st ed.), Aspen Publishers, (1996) (with Joseph Bankman & Thomas Griffith)
• "Federal Tax Sources Recommended for Law School Libraries," 87 L. Libr. J. 387 (1995)"Funding Health Care Reform with an Employer Mandate: Efficiency and Equity Concerns," 39 St. Louis U. L.J. 155 (1994) (symposium issue)
• "Shifting Biases: Troubled Company Debt Restructurings After the 1993 Tax Act," 68 Am. Bankr. L.J. 23 (1994) (peer-reviewed) 

Representative Academic Presentations

• Learning to Live without Form 1040, Critical Tax Conference, Tulane University School of Law, April 2, 2016
• Commentator for Tatiana Homonoff, Raising the Stakes: Experimental Evidence of the Endogeneity of Taxpayer Mistakes and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Cigarette Tax Salience and Regressivity, Loyola Law School Los Angeles, Tax Policy Colloquium, October 5, 2015
• Commentator for Brian Galle, Policy Design for Paternalistic Regulation, Loyola Law School Los Angeles, Tax Policy Colloquium, September 21, 2015
• Encouraging Performance Review of Tax Expenditures, Graduate Tax Program Second Annual Tax Symposium, University of Washington School of Law, October 3, 2014 (invited participant) (speaker at event and moderator of a panel at the event)
• Lessons from Recent Anti-obesity Fiascos and Successes, at a live symposium on The Impact of Food Law and Policy on Public Health, Wake Forest University School of Law, April 4, 2014 (invited participant)
• Commentator for Jason Oh, The Pivotal Politics of Temporary Tax Legislation, Loyola Law School Los Angeles, Tax Policy Colloquium, September 30, 2013
• Fairness in Tax Policy, May 31, 2013 at the Law & Society Annual Meeting in Boston
• Equity and Efficiency in Tax Policy, at the Critical Tax Conference at Hastings Law School on April 12, 2013
• Commentator for Joshua Blank and Nancy Staudt, Planning and Penalties, at The 16th Amendment Anniversary Conference, USC Law School, February 8, 2013 (invited participant)
• Commentator for Jay Bhattacharya, Who Pays for Obesity?, Loyola Law School Los Angeles, Tax Policy Colloquium, November 5, 2012
• A Constructive Critique of Public Health Arguments for Anti-obesity Soda Taxes and Food Taxes, Australia and New Zealand Obesity Society 22nd Annual Scientific Meeting, Auckland New Zealand, October 19, 2012.
• Commentator for Edward McCaffery, Behavioral Law and Economics: Tax, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Tax Policy Colloquium, September 17, 2012.
• Policy Justifications for Anti-obesity Soda Taxes and Food Taxes, Fall 2011 Northern California Tax Roundtable (invited presenter), UC Davis School of Law, November 11, 2011.
• The Tax Law Distinction between “Medical Care” and “Cosmetic Surgery:” O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner,symposium on LGBT Identity and the Law, Loyola Law School Los Angeles, sponsored by Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, October 21, 2011.
• Constructing “the Body” and Construing “Disease:” The U.S. Tax Law Distinction Between “Medical Care” and “Cosmetic Surgery,”interdisciplinary conference on The Language of Illness and Pain, sponsored by Birkbeck College School of Medical Humanities, University of London, July 3, 2011.
• Moderator, Panel on Approaches to Tax Expenditure Reform, Starving the Hidden Beast: New Approaches to Tax Expenditure Reform conference, Los Angeles (co-sponsored by Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center/Loyola Law School, Los Angeles), Friday, January 14, 2011.
• Commentator for Roland Sturm, Soda Taxes, Soft Drink Consumption, and Children's Body Mass Index, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Tax Policy Colloquium, October 18, 2010.
• The Role of Food Excise Taxes in Health Care Reform, Law and Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, May 28, 2010.
• Deducting the Costs of Fertility Treatment: Implications of the Magdalin Case for Infertile and Fertile Taxpayers, Faculty Workshop at Florida State University College of Law, January 28, 2010.
• Deducting the Costs of Fertility Treatment: Implications of the Magdalin Case, Assisted Reproduction Technology and Adoption Law Symposium, Academy of California Adoption Lawyers and Academy of California Family Formation Lawyers, Los Angeles California, January 23, 2010.
• Countering the “Personal Responsibility” Norm in Obesity Policy Debates, Public Health Advocacy Institute Fourth Annual Conference on Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic, Boston, Massachusetts, November 2006 (invited by PHAI to participate as a speaker)
• The Externalities Justification for Food Excise Taxes, Public Health Advocacy Institute Third Annual Conference on Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic, Boston, Massachusetts, September 2005 (invited by PHAI to participate as a speaker) 
• Normative Justifications for Food Excise Taxes, UCLA Medical School, Center for Human Nutrition, Los Angeles, California, June 2005 (invited by UCLA Center for Nutrition to present the workshop talk)
• Normative Justifications for Food Excise Taxes, UCLA School of Law, Tax Policy & Public Finance Workshop Series, Los Angeles, California, April 2005 (invited by UCLA School of Law to present the workshop talk)
• Food Excise Taxes as a Response to the Obesity Epidemic, Public Health Advocacy Institute Second Annual Conference on Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic, Boston, Massachusetts, September 2004 (invited by PHAI to participate as a speaker)

In the News

• Interviewed by Southern California Public Radio reporter José Martinez and quoted in his article, New York’s Sugary Drink Ban: Would It Work in South LA?, “On Central” blog, June 5, 2012
• Interviewed by Eve Troeh for NPR “Marketplace” segment on “Seen and Unseen Taxes,” to be aired on April 2, 2012.
• Interviewed by Tax Analysts reporter Matthew Dalton and quoted in his article, Year in Review: The 2011 Person of the Year, Tax Notes, January 2, 2012.
• Interviewed by Tax Analysts reporter Matthew Dalton and quoted in his article, IRS Acquiesces on Deductibility of Gender Identity Disorder Treatment Expenses, Tax Notes, November 4, 2011.
• Interviewed by Ross Reynolds in an NPR radio segment about anti-obesity fat taxes, “The Conversation with Ross Reynolds,” KUOW, Seattle, Washington, November 1, 2011.

Op-Eds

• In 2011, those serious about reducing the deficit will look to tax expenditures, Summary Judgments, “11 on’ 11” Series, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Faculty Blog, February 11, 2011
• Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due, Miller-McCune, February 7, 2011 
• Show Me the Money: A Hidden Source of Funding for Federal Deficit Reduction, Los Angeles Daily Journal, January 12, 2011