HOW TO SPECIFY A TAX REFORM IN A JSON POLICY REFORM FILE

A tax reform consists of a collection of reform provisions. There is a way to specify in a text file the collection of reform provisions that make up a reform proposal. When stored on your local computer, such reform files can be used to estimate reform effects by using the --reform option of the Tax-Calculator command-line tool tc or by using them in a Python program that imports the Tax-Calculator taxcalc package as described in the user guide.

Here we provide links to several reform files that specify historical reform proposals, and then provide a more general explanation of the structure and syntax of reform files.

Tax Reforms Defined Relative to TCJA Policy

Note that the current-law (that is, TCJA) values of each tax policy parameter are shown in the Policy Parameters section of the user documentation.

Pre-TCJA Policy
Larson Social Security 2100 Act
Sanders-DeFazio Social Security Expansion Act

Tax Reforms Defined Relative to pre-TCJA Policy

Read the answer to Question 1 in this FAQ to see how to use the compound-reform techique to analyze the reforms in this section.

2016 Trump Campaign Tax Plan
2016 Clinton Campaign Tax Plan
2017 Trump Administration Tax Plan
2017 Brown-Khanna GAIN Act
2017 Simplifying America's Tax System (Renacci)
2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as passed by Congress

Structure and Syntax of Reform Files

The reform files are JSON files. JSON, which stands for JavaScript Object Notation, is an easy and widely used way to specify structured information. First we provide an abstract example of a JSON reform file with some explanation, and then we provide links to a few hypothetical reform files that illustrate their expressive range.

Here is an abstract example of a tax reform proposal that consists of several reform provisions. The structure of this file is as follows:

{
    <parameter_name>: {<calyear>: <parameter-value>,
                       ...,
                       <calyear>: <parameter-value>},
    <parameter_name>: {<calyear>: <parameter-value>},
    ...,
    <parameter_name>: {<calyear>: <parameter-value>,
                       ...,
                       <calyear>: <parameter-value>}
}

Notice each pair of reform provision is separated by commas. Each reform provision may have one or multiple year-value pairs. Also, the <parameter_name> and must be enclosed in quotes ("). The <parameter_value> is NOT enclosed in brackets when the <parameter_value> is a scalar and is enclosed in single brackets when the <parameter_value> is a vector. The most common vector of values is one that varies by filing status (MARS) with the vector containing five parameter values for single, married filing joint, married filing separate, head of household, widow.

The following hypothetical payroll tax reforms, all of which are defined relative to pre-TCJA policy, illustrate the flexibility that reform files provide in expressing complex tax reforms.