policyengine-us
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Restructure EITC max to calculate from indexed earned income amounts
Current Implementation
EITC maximum credit amounts are stored as static values in gov/irs/credits/eitc/max.yaml with uprating metadata.
Ideal Implementation
Per IRC § 32, EITC max should be calculated as:
- EITC Max = credit percentage × earned income amount
Where:
- Credit percentages (IRC § 32(b)(1)): Fixed at 7.65%, 34%, 40%, 45% for 0, 1, 2, 3+ children
- Earned income amounts (IRC § 32(b)(2)(A)): Indexed annually with $10 rounding per IRC § 32(j)
Benefits
- Matches statutory structure: Statute doesn't index EITC max directly, only the earned income amounts
- Reduces manual maintenance: Only need to maintain earned income amounts, not calculated maxima
- More accurate: Avoids rounding errors from uprating derived values
- Clearer: Makes calculation transparent
References
- IRC § 32(b)(1) - Credit percentages
- IRC § 32(b)(2)(A) - Earned income amounts
- IRC § 32(j) - Inflation adjustments
Implementation
Would require creating variables that calculate EITC max from indexed parameters rather than reading directly from max.yaml.