Getting Started

Installation

The recommended way to install GETTSIM is via conda, the standard package manager for scientific Python libraries. If conda is not installed on your machine, please follow the installation instructions of its user guide.

With conda available on your path, installing GETTSIM is as simple as typing

$ conda install -c gettsim gettsim

in a command shell.

To validate the installation, start a Python shell and type

import gettsim

gettsim.test()

Usage

Say you have a dataset for the year 2019 that you store in a pandas DataFrame using the variable name data. Your dataset needs to adhere to a particular format; all the columns specified in Required columns in input data below need to be present.

To calculate the taxes and transfers for the households / tax units / individuals in the dataset, you can use the following Python code:

from gettsim.tax_transfer import calculate_tax_and_transfers


calculate_tax_and_transfers(dataset=data, year_of_policy=2019)

The function calculate_tax_and_transfers will update your dataset data with the columns specified below in Columns returned by the simulator. Note that the dataset needs to be in long format, i.e. each person no matter what age has his/her own row.

Required columns in input data

Variable	Explanation	Type
hid	Household identifier	Int
tu_id	Tax Unit identifier	Int
pid	Personal identifier	Int
head_tu	Whether individual is head of tax unit	Bool
head	Whether individual is head of household	Bool
adult_num	Number of adults in household	Int
child0_18_num	Number of children between 0 and 18 in household	Int
hh_wealth	Wealth of household	Float
m_wage	Monthly wage of each individual	Float
age	Age of Individual	Int
selfemployed	Whether individual is self-employed	Bool
east	Whether location in former east or west germany	Bool
haskids	Whether individual has kids	Bool
m_self	Monthly wage of selfemployment of each individual	Float
m_pensions	Monthly pension payments of each individual	Float
pkv	Whether individual is (only) privately health insured	Bool
m_wage_l1	Average monthly earnings, previous year	Float
months_ue	Months in unemployment, current year	Float
months_ue_l1	Months in unemployment, previous year	Float
months_ue_l2	Months in unemployment, two years before	Float
w_hours	Weekly working hours of individual	Int
child_num_tu	Number of children in tax unit	Int
adult_num_tu	Number of adults in tax unit	Int
byear	Year of birth	Int
exper	Labor market experience, in years	Int
EP	Earning points for pension claim	Float
child	Dummy: Either below 18yrs, or below 25 and in education	Bool
pensioner	Dummy: Pensioner employment status	Bool
m_childcare	Monthly childcare expenses	Float
m_imputedrent	Monthly value of owner-occupied housing	Float
m_kapinc	Monthly capital income	Float
m_vermiet	Monthly rental income	Float
miete	Monthly rent expenses (without heating)	Float
heizkost	Monthly heating expenses	Float
renteneintritt	Statutory retirement age (might be in the future)	Int
handcap_degree	Handicap degree (between 0 and 100)	Int
wohnfl	Size of dwelling in square meters	Int
zveranl	Dummy: Married couple filing jointly for income tax	Bool
ineducation	Dummy: Employment status “in education”	Bool
alleinerz	Dummy: Single parent	Bool
eigentum	Dummy: owner-occupied housing	Bool
cnstyr	Construction year of dwelling (1: <1965,2:1966-2000,3:>2000)	Int
m_transfers	Sum of monthly public/private transfers not simulated. E.g. transfers from parents, alimonies, maternity leave payments	Int

Columns returned by the simulator

Note that if one of these columns exists, it will be overwritten.

Variable	Explanation	Type
svbeit	Monthly amount employee soc. sec. contributions	Float
rvbeit	Monthly amount employee old-age pensions contrib.	Float
avbeit	Monthly amount employee unempl. insurance contrib.	Float
gkvbeit	Monthly amount employee health insurance contrib.	Float
m_alg1	Monthly amount of unemployment assistance	Float
pensions_sim	Monthly amount of old-age pensions	Float
gross_e1	Inc. from self-employment subject to tax, individual	Float
gross_e5	Inc. from Capital subject to tax, individual	Float
gross_e6	Inc. from Rents subject to tax, individual	Float
gross_e7	Inc. from Pensions subject to tax, individual	Float
gross_e1_tu	Inc. from Self-Employment subject to tax, couple sum	Float
gross_e4_tu	Inc. from Earnings subject to tax, couple sum	Float
gross_e5_tu	Inc. from Capital subject to tax, couple sum	Float
gross_e6_tu	Inc. from Rents subject to tax, couple sum	Float
gross_e7_tu	Inc. from Pensions subject to tax, couple sum	Float
abgst_tu	Monthly capital cncome tax due, couple sum	Float
abgst	Monthly capital cncome tax due, individual	Float
soli	Monthly solidarity surcharge due, individual	Float
soli_tu	Monthly solidarity surcharge due, couple sum	Float
kindergeld	Monthly child Benefit, individual	Float
kindergeld_tu	Monthly child Benefit, household sum	Float
incometax	Monthly income Tax Due, individual	Float
incometax_tu	Monthly income Tax Due, couple sum	Float
uhv	Alimony advance payment, individual	Float
regelbedarf	Household socio-economic need, incl. housing cost	Float
regelsatz	Household socio-economic need, lump-sum	Float
alg2_kdu	Housing cost covered by social assistance	Float
uhv_hh	Alimony advance payment, household sum	Float
kiz	Monthly additional child benefit, household sum	Float
wohngeld	Monthly housing benefit, household sum	Float
m_alg2	Monthly social assistance, household sum	Float
dpi_ind	Monthly disposable income, individual	Float
dpi	Monthly disposable income, household sum	Float
gross	Monthly market income	Float