The detailed myita --help documentation (which includes the summary
--usage documentation) is shown below. If you don't have experience
writing the JSON language, read one of the many documents available on
the Internet, one of which is this brief JSON tutorial.
JSON CLI Help
The screen output generated by the myita --help command is as follows:
usage: myita INPUT TAXYEAR REFORM [--help] [--numyears N]
[--response RESPONSE] [--growdiff GROWDIFF]
[--dumpvars DUMPVARS] [--dbdump] [--nodump] [--notable] [--noparam]
[--tstax] [--xstax] [--xsati] [--xsetr]
[--silent] [--test] [--version] [--usage]
Write (1) dump output to a CSV-formatted file containing tax information under
the REFORM for each filing unit in the INPUT file, (2) table output to a text
file containing distributional tables for current-law policy, the REFORM
policy, and for changes caused by the REFORM, and (3) parameter output under
the REFORM to a text file. These three output files are written for TAXYEAR,
and for subsequent years if the --numyears N option is specified.
positional arguments:
INPUT INPUT is name of CSV-formatted file that contains for
each filing unit variables used to compute taxes for
TAXYEAR without any extrapolation of the INPUT data.
TWO EXCEPTIONS: (a) Specifying tax.csv uses the tax
input file included in the myitaxanalyzer package and
extrapolates those tax data to the specified TAXYEAR
and uses the weights included in the myitaxanalyzer
package for that TAXYEAR; (b) Specifying a weights file
whose name matches the INPUT file name also causes
extrapolation assuming weights file includes weights
for TAXYEAR. Matching means, for example, that if INPUT
is xyz.csv, then xyz_weights.csv matches.
TAXYEAR TAXYEAR is the first calendar year for which taxes are
calculated; calculations for subsequent years are done
only if the --numyears N option is specified with N>1.
REFORM REFORM is name of JSON file that contains policy reform
provisions.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--numyears N N is an integer indicating for how many years taxes are
calculated. No --numyears implies calculations are done
only for TAXYEAR. N greater than one implies output is
written to separate files for TAXYEAR,...,TAXYEAR+N-1.
--response RESPONSE RESPONSE is name of an optional JSON file containing
behavior response elasticities. No --response means use
of no REFORM-induced partial-equilibrium behavior
responses, which implies static tax analysis.
--growdiff GROWDIFF GROWDIFF is name of an optional JSON file. No
--growdiff means using the default growth factors,
which implies no REFORM-induced general-equilibrium
effects, and therefore, static tax analysis.
--tstax optional flag that causes writing of a tab-delimited
output file containing aggregate tax revenue for
current-law and the reform for each tax year; this
output can be graphed using the myiplot tool.
--xstax optional flag that causes writing of a tab-delimited
output file containing reform-induced percentage change
in tax liability for each current-law pre-tax income
percentile; this output can be graphed using the
myiplot tool.
--xsati optional flag that causes writing of a tab-delimited
output file containing reform-induced percentage change
in after-tax income for each current-law pre-tax income
percentile; this output can be graphed using the
myiplot tool.
--xsetr optional flag that causes writing of a tab-delimited
output file containing an effective tax rate for each
current-law pre-tax income percentile; this output can
be graphed using the myiplot tool.
--dumpvars DUMPVARS option that causes dump output file to contain more
than the minimal variables. Specifying "--dumpvars ALL"
causes the dump output to contain all INPUT variables
(possibly extrapolated to the tax year) and all
calculated tax variables for the REFORM policy, which
generates a large file that takes several seconds to
write. Otherwise DUMPVARS is the name of a text file
containing a space-delimited collection of variables to
include in dump output. Specifying either version of
the --dumpvars option will cause the inclusion of
marginal tax rates for each variable with non-zero
behavior elasticities specified using the --response
option and the inclusion of variables used to construct
the tables unless the --notable option is specified. No
--dumpvars option means dump output contains only the
minimal variables.
--dbdump optional flag that causes dump output file to be
written as an SQLite3 database file (ending in .db
instead of .csv) that includes two tables of DUMPVARS,
one table for the REFORM (named ref) and one table for
current-law policy (named clp).
--nodump optional flag that causes no dump output file to be
written. Combining this with the --noparam and
--notable options produces a dry run, in which all the
calculations are done but no output files are written.
--notable optional flag that causes no table output file to be
written. Combining this with the --nodump and --noparam
options produces a dry run, in which all the
calculations are done but no output files are written.
--noparam optional flag that causes no parameter output file to
be written. Combining this with the --nodump and
--notable options produces a dry run, in which all the
calculations are done but no output files are written.
--silent optional flag that silences the messages about INPUT
data handling, tax calculations, and output file
writing.
--test optional flag that conducts installation test, writes
test result to screen, writes the clp.json, language-
words, and language-rules files, and then exits.
--version optional flag that writes MYI-Tax-Analyzer release
version and exits.
--usage optional flag that writes short command-line usage
reminder and exits.