Recipe 2: Estimating Behavioral Response to Reform

Recipe 2: Estimating Behavioral Response to Reform#

This is an advanced recipe that should be followed only after mastering the basic recipe. This recipe shows how to analyze the behavioral responses to a tax reform using the Behavioral-Responses behresp package.

import sys
if 'google.colab' in sys.modules:
    !pip install -q condacolab &> /dev/null # dev/null suppresses output
    import condacolab
    condacolab.install()
import taxcalc as tc
import behresp

# use publicly-available CPS input file
recs = tc.Records.cps_constructor()

# specify baseline Calculator object representing current-law policy
pol = tc.Policy()
calc1 = tc.Calculator(policy=pol, records=recs)

CYR = 2020

# calculate aggregate current-law income tax liabilities for cyr
calc1.advance_to_year(CYR)
calc1.calc_all()
itax_rev1 = calc1.weighted_total('iitax')

# specify Calculator object for static analysis of reform policy
pol.implement_reform(tc.Policy.read_json_reform('github://PSLmodels:Tax-Calculator@master/docs/recipes/_static/reformA.json'))
calc2 = tc.Calculator(policy=pol, records=recs)

# calculate reform income tax liabilities for cyr under static assumptions
calc2.advance_to_year(CYR)
calc2.calc_all()
itax_rev2sa = calc2.weighted_total('iitax')

# specify assumed non-zero response-function substitution elasticity
response_elasticities = {'sub': 0.25}

# specify Calculator object for analysis of reform with behavioral responses
calc2 = tc.Calculator(policy=pol, records=recs)
calc2.advance_to_year(CYR)
_, df2br = behresp.response(calc1, calc2, response_elasticities)

# calculate reform income tax liabilities for CYR with behavioral response
itax_rev2br = (df2br['iitax'] * df2br['s006']).sum()

# print total income tax revenue estimates for CYR
# (estimates in billons of dollars)
print('{}_CURRENT_LAW_P__itax_rev($B)= {:.3f}'.format(CYR, itax_rev1 * 1e-9))
print('{}_REFORM_STATIC__itax_rev($B)= {:.3f}'.format(CYR, itax_rev2sa * 1e-9))
print('{}_REFORM_DYNAMIC_itax_rev($B)= {:.3f}'.format(CYR, itax_rev2br * 1e-9))
2020_CURRENT_LAW_P__itax_rev($B)= 819.585
2020_REFORM_STATIC__itax_rev($B)= 823.778
2020_REFORM_DYNAMIC_itax_rev($B)= 811.399

Create multi-year diagnostic tables for

  1. baseline,

  2. reform excluding behavioral responses, and

  3. reform including behavioral responses

NUM_YEARS = 3  # number of diagnostic table years beginning with CYR
dtable1 = calc1.diagnostic_table(NUM_YEARS)
dtable2 = calc2.diagnostic_table(NUM_YEARS)
dvar_list3 = list()
year_list3 = list()
for year in range(CYR, CYR + NUM_YEARS):
    calc1.advance_to_year(year)
    calc2.advance_to_year(year)
    _, df2br = behresp.response(calc1, calc2, response_elasticities)
    dvar_list3.append(df2br)
    year_list3.append(year)
dtable3 = tc.create_diagnostic_table(dvar_list3, year_list3)

Diagnostic table for baseline:

dtable1
2020 2021 2022
Returns (#m) 204.480 207.080 209.660
AGI ($b) 11573.240 13243.119 13525.084
Itemizers (#m) 27.470 31.480 31.370
Itemized Deduction ($b) 745.341 872.203 888.655
Standard Deduction Filers (#m) 176.900 175.480 178.300
Standard Deduction ($b) 3080.762 3085.817 3226.803
Personal Exemption ($b) 0.000 0.000 0.000
Taxable Income ($b) 8615.438 10113.453 10313.859
Regular Tax ($b) 1497.393 1776.855 1834.886
AMT Income ($b) 10965.638 12534.898 12799.760
AMT Liability ($b) 0.537 1.451 0.635
AMT Filers (#m) 0.070 0.190 0.080
Tax before Credits ($b) 1497.931 1778.306 1835.521
Refundable Credits ($b) 655.022 826.380 99.096
Nonrefundable Credits ($b) 99.198 0.005 107.424
Reform Surtaxes ($b) 0.000 0.000 0.000
Other Taxes ($b) 75.874 83.585 87.423
Ind Income Tax ($b) 819.585 1035.506 1716.423
Payroll Taxes ($b) 1154.642 1252.707 1343.466
Combined Liability ($b) 1974.227 2288.212 3059.889
With Income Tax <= 0 (#m) 133.130 125.860 94.700
With Combined Tax <= 0 (#m) 98.170 97.580 67.970
UBI Benefits ($b) 0.000 0.000 0.000
Total Benefits, Consumption Value ($b) 3617.042 3992.973 4070.218
Total Benefits Cost ($b) 3617.042 3992.973 4070.218

Diagnostic table for reform, excluding behavioral responses:

dtable2
2020 2021 2022
Returns (#m) 204.480 207.080 209.660
AGI ($b) 11573.240 13243.119 13525.084
Itemizers (#m) 27.390 31.360 31.250
Itemized Deduction ($b) 742.827 868.841 885.568
Standard Deduction Filers (#m) 176.980 175.600 178.410
Standard Deduction ($b) 3082.124 3087.838 3228.760
Personal Exemption ($b) 375.177 384.158 406.780
Taxable Income ($b) 8367.736 9848.768 10037.632
Regular Tax ($b) 1499.235 1781.411 1841.508
AMT Income ($b) 10969.689 12539.710 12804.390
AMT Liability ($b) 0.544 1.479 0.634
AMT Filers (#m) 0.070 0.190 0.080
Tax before Credits ($b) 1499.779 1782.891 1842.142
Refundable Credits ($b) 658.339 826.380 102.806
Nonrefundable Credits ($b) 93.536 0.002 101.737
Reform Surtaxes ($b) 0.000 0.000 0.000
Other Taxes ($b) 75.874 83.585 87.423
Ind Income Tax ($b) 823.778 1040.093 1725.022
Payroll Taxes ($b) 1154.642 1252.707 1343.466
Combined Liability ($b) 1978.420 2292.800 3068.488
With Income Tax <= 0 (#m) 135.240 128.020 97.180
With Combined Tax <= 0 (#m) 98.930 98.460 68.660
UBI Benefits ($b) 0.000 0.000 0.000
Total Benefits, Consumption Value ($b) 3617.042 3992.973 4070.218
Total Benefits Cost ($b) 3617.042 3992.973 4070.218

Diagnostic table for reform, including behavioral responses:

dtable3
2020 2021 2022
Returns (#m) 204.480 207.080 209.660
AGI ($b) 11546.619 13209.241 13489.513
Itemizers (#m) 27.360 31.330 31.230
Itemized Deduction ($b) 741.558 867.138 884.107
Standard Deduction Filers (#m) 177.010 175.630 178.430
Standard Deduction ($b) 3082.683 3088.512 3229.115
Personal Exemption ($b) 375.177 384.158 406.780
Taxable Income ($b) 8341.367 9815.413 10002.653
Regular Tax ($b) 1487.279 1766.892 1826.126
AMT Income ($b) 10943.687 12506.912 12769.684
AMT Liability ($b) 0.543 1.478 0.629
AMT Filers (#m) 0.070 0.190 0.080
Tax before Credits ($b) 1487.822 1768.369 1826.755
Refundable Credits ($b) 658.049 826.375 102.537
Nonrefundable Credits ($b) 93.768 0.002 101.986
Reform Surtaxes ($b) 0.000 0.000 0.000
Other Taxes ($b) 75.394 83.011 86.832
Ind Income Tax ($b) 811.399 1025.003 1709.063
Payroll Taxes ($b) 1154.162 1251.845 1342.612
Combined Liability ($b) 1965.561 2276.848 3051.675
With Income Tax <= 0 (#m) 135.210 127.990 97.050
With Combined Tax <= 0 (#m) 98.910 98.440 68.470
UBI Benefits ($b) 0.000 0.000 0.000
Total Benefits, Consumption Value ($b) 3617.042 3992.973 4070.218
Total Benefits Cost ($b) 3617.042 3992.973 4070.218