This is a 20-digit numeric variable.

Description

SPMFEDTAXBC measures a family's total tax liability before tax credits are deducted. Tax credits include the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit. This variable is measured for the entire Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) family unit.

Tax liability after credits are deducted is reported in SPMFEDTAXAC and is used in the construction of the SPM.

In 2014, the Census Bureau updated SPMFEDTAXBC values for CPS ASEC 2011 and 2010. Extracts made on IPUMS-CPS before April 15th, 2014 have the outdated values for SPMFEDTAXBC.

Amounts for SPMFEDTAXBC are expressed in dollars of the given year, rather than in constant dollars adjusted for inflation. Users can adjust for inflation using Consumer Price Index adjustment factors.

Comparability

Aside from the effects of inflation, SPMFEDTAXBC is comparable across years from 2010 to 2018.

In 2019, the Census Bureau implemented a new processing system to accommodate survey changes. These changes affect income and relationship variables, making poverty measurements before and after 2019 incomparable. For more information on this overhaul, see our guide to the 2019 ASEC updates.
In 2020, the Census re-released the SPM Research File with revised SPM variables which incorporated improved methodology (which was originally introduced with the 2021 ASEC file). This variable contains the originally released SPM variable data, not the revised data. IPUMS created alternative SPM variables for the 2020 samples. For information on these alternative SPM variables in the 2020 ASEC, see our documentation on the re-release of the 2019 SPM research file in the 2020 ASEC that lists all revised variables and describes methodological improvements that impact SPM resource and threshold variables.

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Unharmonized Variables