Explaining Analytical Methods
- Report
Reconciling the Official Poverty Measure and CBO’s Distributional Analysis of Household Income
CBO examines how its method for analyzing the distribution of household income differs from the Census Bureau’s method for calculating the official poverty measure. The most important differences stem from what each method counts as income.
- Report
How Increased Use of Gene Therapy Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease Could Affect the Federal Budget
Gene therapies replace or modify disease-causing genes in human cells. In this report, CBO discusses how it would estimate the budgetary effects of policies that sought to increase the use of gene therapy treatment for sickle cell disease.
- Report
An Evaluation of CBO’s Projections of Deficits and Debt From 1984 to 2023
CBO assesses the quality of the baseline projections of deficits and debt that it has made each spring from 1984 to 2023.
- Blog Post
Additional Information About the Effects of Expiring Provisions of the 2017 Tax Act in CBO’s Baseline Projections
CBO’s Director describes how expiring provisions of the 2017 tax act affect the agency’s baseline projections and reviews some information that has become available since CBO first estimated the effects of the tax act in April 2018.
- Presentation
CBO’s Model for Estimating the Effects on New Investment of Deductions to Recover the Cost of Capital
CBO describes how it uses its capital tax model, called CapTax, to estimate the effects that changes in deductions to recover the cost of new investment have on the incentives to invest in capital.
- Presentation
How the Expiring Individual Income Tax Provisions in the 2017 Tax Act Affect CBO’s Economic Forecast
CBO’s economic forecast reflects current law, including the expiration, at the end of 2025, of some provisions of the 2017 tax act. CBO analyzed how the expiration of those provisions affected projections that it published in February 2024.
- Presentation
How CBO Projects Tariff Revenues
CBO describes how it projects tariff revenues and explains how, and when, it produces estimates of the effects of changes in tariff rates.
- Report
The Distribution of Household Income in 2021
New policies implemented by the federal government affected transfers and taxes in 2021. The policies largely benefited lower- and middle-income households. But income inequality still increased, mainly because of realized capital gains.
- Report
How Changes in Funding for the IRS Affect Revenues
CBO describes how funding for the IRS affects CBO’s revenue projections and how CBO estimates the revenue effects of rescissions of such funding. CBO also estimates the budgetary effects of rescinding varying amounts of the IRS’s funding.
- Interactive
How Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage Could Affect Employment and Family Income
This interactive tool, updated in January 30, 2024, allows users to explore how various policies to increase the federal minimum wage would affect earnings, employment, family income, and poverty.