The New PolicyEngine

At PolicyEngine, we strive to make tax and benefit policy accessible to everyone. That’s why we’ve not only built an open source rules engine for researchers, but also a free, intuitive web app where anyone can explore policies and customisable reforms.

Today we’re launching a new version of our web app that makes public policy more transparent and interactive than ever before. Our new app makes it easier to find the specific information you’re looking for, whether that’s navigating your household through taxes and benefits under current law, understanding how a policy reform could affect you, or designing a new policy. We’ve also added new functionality to increase the customisability, analytics, and shareability.

If you’ve used PolicyEngine before, we think you’ll find the new version easier to use, and especially more delightful on mobile. We’ve also added a number of concrete new features, including:

• Access to all household variables and policy parameters in our model — several hundred in total — with a search box to cut down on clicks.

• Named policies that feed into chart titles.

• Simplified household questionnaire so you can estimate your taxes and benefits fast.

• Deep linking to specific households, policies, and charts for easier sharing.

• Auto-generated code to reproduce results with our open source Python package.

• Cliff impact, estimating how a reform affects the population share for whom an earnings increase would lower net income (more on that in a future post soon).

For more information:

1. Read our companion blog post which walks through how to use the new app, using the Child Benefit High Income Tax Charge as a case study

2. Follow us on Twitter, where we’ll share tips and examples

3. Register for our newsletter to stay up to date on enhancements and use cases

4. Tune in to our webinar Tuesday at 4pm

We’re as excited to share this milestone as we are to keep improving the product. To share your feedback, feel free to reach out by email, Twitter, or GitHub.