# Is there an after tax income variable or must I compute it as TAXINC-FEDATAX-STATATAX?

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/is-there-an-after-tax-income-variable-or-must-i-compute-it-as-taxinc-fedatax-statatax/1118>\
**Category:** CPS\
**Created:** [November 18, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/is-there-an-after-tax-income-variable-or-must-i-compute-it-as-taxinc-fedatax-statatax/1118 "2015-11-18T19:22:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Stuart\_Alvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Stuart\_Alvey](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Stuart_Alvey)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/is-there-an-after-tax-income-variable-or-must-i-compute-it-as-taxinc-fedatax-statatax/1118/1 "2015-11-18T19:22:00Z")

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Is there an after tax income variable or must I compute it as TAXINC-FEDATAX-STATATAX?

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**Author:** ![Tim\_Moreland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@Tim\_Moreland](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Tim_Moreland)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/is-there-an-after-tax-income-variable-or-must-i-compute-it-as-taxinc-fedatax-statatax/1118/2 "2015-11-20T23:02:00Z")

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The CPS [income variables](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/group?id=income) all refer to before-tax income. To approximate after-tax income in a manner consistent with the [Census Bureau](http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/measures/rdi1.html), you should subtract [FEDTAXAC](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/FEDTAXAC#description_section), [STATAXAC](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/STATAXAC#description_section), [FICA](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/FICA#description_section), [FEDRETIR](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/FEDRETIR#description_section), and [PROPTAX](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/PROPTAX#description_section) from your income variable. Keep in mind that [tax variables](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/group?id=tax) in the CPS, excluding PROPTAX, were not determined by direct questioning of respondents. Rather, values for these variables come from the Census Bureau’s [tax model](https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/publications/oharataxmodel.pdf), which simulates individual tax returns to produce estimates of federal, state, and payroll taxes. The model incorporates information from non-CPS sources, such as the Internal Revenue Service’s Statistics of Income series, the American Housing Survey, and the State Tax Handbook.

Hope this helps.