I have a question and two suggestions on the ASEC variables CAPGAIN and CAPLOSS:
Question:
Why have these variables been discontinued since 2008? (See their availability tabs.)
The reason I am asking is threefold:
a) All other tax variables imputed by the CB tax model are available for later years.
b) In their description tabs, it first says they are imputed by the CB tax model. But then it says “CPS discontinued this variable starting in 2010 and on.” Does this mean CPS no longer included the imputed values? Or does the CB tax model no longer provide them? (And why is the year listed there different from the availability tab?)
c) In the description tabs of their unharmonized variables (UH_CPGAIN_A1 and UH_CPLOSS_A1) it says “Amount of capital gains (losses) - 1980-2009” but again the info in the availability tab is different.
Suggestions:
- The links to “user note” in their code tabs are broken. Would be great to restore their original destinations.
- I think it would be helpful to clarify in their descriptions that these variables report net amounts; I just checked years 2005 and 2006 and couldn’t find a single case in which they are simultaneously different from zero (except for NIU codes).
Thanks a lot for looking into this and for all the work on the documentation!