Legislation evolutions¶

Openfisca handles the fact that the legislation changes over time.

Parameter evolution¶

Many legislation parameters are regularly re-evaluated while the variables using them stay the same.

Example: the taxes parameter can change without altering the code of the flat_tax_on_salary variable that uses that parameter.

In that case, add the new parameter values and their start dates in the appropriate parameter files.

How to update a parameter¶

Open the file where the parameter is described¶

taxes:
  salary:
    rate:
      description: Rate for the flat tax on salaries
      values:
        2016-01-01:
          value: 0.25
          reference: https://www.legislation-source.com/2016
        2015-01-01:
          value: 0.20
          reference: https://www.legislation-source.com/2015

Add a new value to this parameter¶

taxes:
  salary:
    rate:
      description: Rate for the flat tax on salaries
      values:
        2017-01-01:
          value: 0.3
          reference: https://www.legislation-source.com/2017
        2016-01-01:
          value: 0.25
          reference: https://www.legislation-source.com/2016
        2015-01-01:
          value: 0.2
          reference: https://www.legislation-source.com/2015

After this change, in a formula:

parameters('2016-04').taxes.salary.rate is 0.25
parameters('2017-01').taxes.salary.rate is 0.3
parameters('2022-01').taxes.salary.rate is 0.3

Formula evolution¶

Some fiscal or benefit mechanism significantly evolve over time and call for a change in the formula that computes them. In this case, a simple parameter adjustement is not enough.

For instance, let’s assume that from the 1st of Jan. 2017, the flat_tax_on_salary is not applied anymore on the first 1000 earned by a person.

We implement this rule by adding a new formula to our variable, and dating it:

class flat_tax_on_salary(Variable):
    value_type = float
    entity = Person
    label = u"Individualized and monthly paid tax on salaries"
    definition_period = MONTH

    def formula_2017(person, period, parameters):
        salary = person('salary', period)
        salary_above_1000 = min_(salary - 1000, 0)
        return salary_above_1000 * parameters(period).taxes.salary.rate

    def formula(person, period, parameters):
        salary = person('salary', period)

        return salary * parameters(period).taxes.salary.rate

If the flat_tax_on_salary is calculated for a person before the 31st of Dec. 2016 (included), formula is used. If it is called after the 1st of Jan 2017 (included), formula_2017 is used.

Formula naming rules:

A formula name must always start with formula.
To define a starting date for a formula, we add to its name a suffix made of an underscore followed by a date.
- For instance, formula_2017_01_01 is active from the 1st of Jan. 2017.
When defining a date, the month is given before the day.
When no month or day is specified, OpenFisca uses ‘01’ as default value.
- For instance, formula_2017 is equivalent to formula_2017_01_01.
If no date is specified for a formula, OpenFisca will consider that this formula has been active since the dawn of time (or more precisely, since 0001-01-01, as Python does not handle B.C. dates).
- For instance, formula is active on 2010.
A formula is active until another formula, starting later, becomes active and replaces it (or until the variable end date is reached, as we’ll see further down in the Variable end section).
- For instance, formula is active until 2016-12-31 (included). On the day after, 2017-01-01, formula_2017 becomes active, and formula becomes inactive.

Formula introduction¶

In our previous example, we assumed that flat_tax_on_salary had always had a formula, since the dawn of time. This is a reasonable hypothesis if we are only interested in running computations for recent years.

But most fiscal and benefit mechanisms have been introduced at some point. Let’s for instance assume that our flat_tax_on_salary only appeared in our legislation on the 1st of June 2005.

This is easily implemented by dating the two formulas:

class flat_tax_on_salary(Variable):
    value_type = float
    entity = Person
    label = u"Individualized and monthly paid tax on salaries"
    definition_period = MONTH

    def formula_2017(person, period, parameters):
        salary = person('salary', period)
        salary_above_1000 = min_(salary - 1000, 0)
        return salary_above_1000 * parameters(period).taxes.salary.rate

    def formula_2005_06(person, period, parameters):
        salary = person('salary', period)

        return salary * parameters(period).taxes.salary.rate

Only a few characters changed in comparison with the last example: the suffix _2005_06 has been added to the second formula name.

Note that if flat_tax_on_salary is calculated before 2005-05-31 (included), none of the two formulas is used, as they are both inactive at this time. Instead, the variable default value is returned.

Variable end¶

As the legislation evolves, some fiscal or benefit mechanisms disapear.

Let’s for instance assume that a progressive_income_tax used to exist before the flat_tax_on_salary was introduced. This progressive tax then disapeared on the 1st of June 2005.

This is implemented with an end attribute that define the last day a variable can be calculated:

class progressive_income_tax(Variable):
    value_type = float
    entity = Person
    label = u"Former tax replaced by the flat tax on the 1st of June 2005"
    definition_period = MONTH
    end = '2005-05-31'

    def formula(person, period, legislation):
        # Apply a marginal scale to the person's income
        ...

If progressive_income_tax is called before 2005-05-31(included), formula will be used.

However, if progressive_income_tax is calculated after 2005-06-01 (included), formula is not used, as it is not active anymore at this time. Instead, the variable default value is returned.

Note that:

The end day is inclusive: it is the last day a variable and its formulas are active (and not the first day it is not active anymore).
The end value is a string of format YYYY-MM-DD where YYYY, MM and DD are respectively a year, month and day.
When defining a date, the month is given before the day.

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