policyengine-user-guide

Name: policyengine-user-guide
Author: PolicyEngine

31stars5forks

How to install policyengine-user-guide?

policyengine/policyengine-claude/policyengine-user-guide

$npx -y skills add PolicyEngine/policyengine-claude --skill policyengine-user-guide

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Using the PolicyEngine web app (policyengine.org) to analyze how tax and benefit reforms affect a household or the whole population — the household calculator, the policy editor, and society-wide impact charts. For people using the site, not building it. Triggers: "how to use Pol

Files · 1

View on GitHub

SKILL.md

1	# PolicyEngine user guide
2
3	Help someone use policyengine.org to compute how a policy affects a specific household or the
4	population. The app has three stable surfaces: a household calculator, a policy editor,
5	and society-wide impact results. Exact labels and layout evolve — describe the flow by these
6	concepts rather than memorized button text.
7
8	## What PolicyEngine does
9
10	PolicyEngine computes the impact of tax and benefit policy on households and society. Users can
11	calculate their own taxes and benefits, design a custom reform, see population-wide impacts, and
12	share a reform by link. It is a nonpartisan nonprofit; the site is free.
13
14	Countries: United States (`policyengine.org/us`), United Kingdom (`/uk`), and Canada (`/ca`).
15
16	## Household calculator
17
18	The household flow answers "how does this policy affect this household?"
19
20	1. Describe the household. Enter the people (ages, marital status, dependents), their income
21	by type (employment, self-employment, capital gains, pensions, benefits received), the
22	location (US state or UK region, plus any local options the model supports), and any
23	deductions/expenses the model uses (e.g. charitable giving, mortgage interest, SALT, medical).
24	2. Read the results. Net income after taxes and benefits, broken into total tax, total
25	benefits, and effective and marginal tax rates, with charts of net income and marginal rate
26	across an earnings range.
27	3. Apply a reform. Layer a policy reform on top to compare baseline vs. reform for the same
28	household.
29
30	## Policy editor
31
32	The policy flow answers "what does this reform do to the population?"
33
34	1. Pick parameters to change. Browse the parameter tree by government department and program
35	(e.g. IRS credits, SNAP, Universal Credit), select a parameter, and set a new value or
36	schedule. Verify the parameter's current baseline before changing it — post-OBBBA US law
37	differs from older summaries (e.g. the CTC baseline is $2,200 in 2026, not $2,000).
38	2. Run the society-wide impact. The app computes the reform against microdata and returns:
39	- Budgetary impact — total cost or revenue, broken down by program.
40	- Poverty impact — change in poverty rate, by age group and for deep poverty.
41	- Distributional impact — average change and winners/losers by income decile.
42	- Inequality impact — Gini index and top-income shares.
43
44	## Sharing a reform
45
46	Every reform gets a shareable URL. The link encodes the reform, the region (national, state, or
47	district), and the year of analysis, so a recipient opens the same scenario. Charts can be
48	downloaded as images to drop into a post or deck.
49
50	## Reading the results
51
52	- Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM): the Census Bureau's alternative measure that accounts
53	for taxes, benefits, and living costs — more comprehensive than the Official Poverty Measure.
54	- Gini coefficient: income inequality on a 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality)
55	scale; lower means more equal.
56	- Income deciles: the population split into ten equal groups by income (decile 1 = lowest).
57	- Winners and losers: shares whose net income rises or falls by more than a set threshold.
58	- Chart types: bar charts compare across groups (deciles, states); line charts show
59	relationships (income vs. impact); waterfall charts decompose the budgetary impact.
60
61	## Common tasks
62
63	- Effect on my household: household calculator → enter details → apply the reform → compare.
64	- Cost of a reform: policy editor → build the reform → budgetary impact.
65	- Poverty effect: policy editor → build the reform → poverty impact.
66	- Who benefits: policy editor → build the reform → distributional impact (winners/losers by
67	decile).
68	- Compare two reforms: build reform A, save its link, build reform B, compare their impacts.
69
70	## FAQ
71
72	- How accurate is it? Household calculations apply statutory tax and benefit rules and match
73	official calculators for individual households. Population estimates use microsimulation on
74	survey microdata calibrated to administrative totals.
75	- Can I file my taxes with it? No — it is for policy analysis, not tax filing. Use IRS.gov or
76	professional software to file.
77	- What programs are modeled? US: federal income/payroll/capital-gains tax, EITC, CTC/ACTC,
78	SNAP, WIC, ACA subsidies, Social Security, SSI, TANF, and state income taxes; UK: income tax,
79	National Insurance, Universal Credit

People who liked this also viewed

6 picks

Type

policyengine-user-guide

31stars5forks

View on GitHub

How to install policyengine-user-guide?

policyengine/policyengine-claude/policyengine-user-guide

$npx -y skills add PolicyEngine/policyengine-claude --skill policyengine-user-guide

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Files · 1

View on GitHub

SKILL.md

1	# PolicyEngine user guide
2
3	Help someone use policyengine.org to compute how a policy affects a specific household or the
4	population. The app has three stable surfaces: a household calculator, a policy editor,
5	and society-wide impact results. Exact labels and layout evolve — describe the flow by these
6	concepts rather than memorized button text.
7
8	## What PolicyEngine does
9
10	PolicyEngine computes the impact of tax and benefit policy on households and society. Users can
11	calculate their own taxes and benefits, design a custom reform, see population-wide impacts, and
12	share a reform by link. It is a nonpartisan nonprofit; the site is free.
13
14	Countries: United States (`policyengine.org/us`), United Kingdom (`/uk`), and Canada (`/ca`).
15
16	## Household calculator
17
18	The household flow answers "how does this policy affect this household?"
19
20	1. Describe the household. Enter the people (ages, marital status, dependents), their income
21	by type (employment, self-employment, capital gains, pensions, benefits received), the
22	location (US state or UK region, plus any local options the model supports), and any
23	deductions/expenses the model uses (e.g. charitable giving, mortgage interest, SALT, medical).
24	2. Read the results. Net income after taxes and benefits, broken into total tax, total
25	benefits, and effective and marginal tax rates, with charts of net income and marginal rate
26	across an earnings range.
27	3. Apply a reform. Layer a policy reform on top to compare baseline vs. reform for the same
28	household.
29
30	## Policy editor
31
32	The policy flow answers "what does this reform do to the population?"
33
34	1. Pick parameters to change. Browse the parameter tree by government department and program
35	(e.g. IRS credits, SNAP, Universal Credit), select a parameter, and set a new value or
36	schedule. Verify the parameter's current baseline before changing it — post-OBBBA US law
37	differs from older summaries (e.g. the CTC baseline is $2,200 in 2026, not $2,000).
38	2. Run the society-wide impact. The app computes the reform against microdata and returns:
39	- Budgetary impact — total cost or revenue, broken down by program.
40	- Poverty impact — change in poverty rate, by age group and for deep poverty.
41	- Distributional impact — average change and winners/losers by income decile.
42	- Inequality impact — Gini index and top-income shares.
43
44	## Sharing a reform
45
46	Every reform gets a shareable URL. The link encodes the reform, the region (national, state, or
47	district), and the year of analysis, so a recipient opens the same scenario. Charts can be
48	downloaded as images to drop into a post or deck.
49
50	## Reading the results
51
52	- Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM): the Census Bureau's alternative measure that accounts
53	for taxes, benefits, and living costs — more comprehensive than the Official Poverty Measure.
54	- Gini coefficient: income inequality on a 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality)
55	scale; lower means more equal.
56	- Income deciles: the population split into ten equal groups by income (decile 1 = lowest).
57	- Winners and losers: shares whose net income rises or falls by more than a set threshold.
58	- Chart types: bar charts compare across groups (deciles, states); line charts show
59	relationships (income vs. impact); waterfall charts decompose the budgetary impact.
60
61	## Common tasks
62
63	- Effect on my household: household calculator → enter details → apply the reform → compare.
64	- Cost of a reform: policy editor → build the reform → budgetary impact.
65	- Poverty effect: policy editor → build the reform → poverty impact.
66	- Who benefits: policy editor → build the reform → distributional impact (winners/losers by
67	decile).
68	- Compare two reforms: build reform A, save its link, build reform B, compare their impacts.
69
70	## FAQ
71
72	- How accurate is it? Household calculations apply statutory tax and benefit rules and match
73	official calculators for individual households. Population estimates use microsimulation on
74	survey microdata calibrated to administrative totals.
75	- Can I file my taxes with it? No — it is for policy analysis, not tax filing. Use IRS.gov or
76	professional software to file.
77	- What programs are modeled? US: federal income/payroll/capital-gains tax, EITC, CTC/ACTC,
78	SNAP, WIC, ACA subsidies, Social Security, SSI, TANF, and state income taxes; UK: income tax,
79	National Insurance, Universal Credit

People who liked this also viewed

6 picks

Type