Virginia TANF: va_tanf_countable_earned_income deducts SNAP's FY2020 standard deduction; Virginia uses the SNAP standard deduction in effect
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Assessment
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Newbie friendliness
- 63/100
Research direction
Find the definition of va_tanf_countable_earned_income and the parameter gov.states.va.dss.tanf.income.deductions.earned.flat; read how the parameter is dated and how assistance-unit size is used. Compare that logic with gov.usda.snap.income.deductions.standard and the cited Virginia manual. Done when the January 2025 example matches the intended SNAP deduction and relevant tests pass.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Description
Summary
va_tanf_countable_earned_income subtracts gov.states.va.dss.tanf.income.deductions.earned.flat: $167 (1-3 people), $178 (4), $209 (5), $240 (6+), dated 2016-01-01. Those are SNAP's fiscal-year-2020 standard deductions, copied from the 11/20 TANF Manual that the parameter cites (305.1 A.2, page 29). Virginia's TANF standard deduction is the SNAP one, and the manual's table has moved with SNAP:
- Virginia TANF Manual (7/24) 305.1 A.2.b ("Screening at the Standard of Assistance", page dated 10/23): "All AUs will be allowed the following deductions from earned income: The standard deduction*, the same amount used in the standard deduction for the SNAP program, and 20% of the remainder is deducted from the gross earnings." Its table: $198 (1-3), $208 (4), $244 (5), $279 (6+), SNAP's FY2024 amounts.
- 305.3 B.3: "A standard deduction is subtracted from the gross earned income for the assistance unit whose income is not otherwise exempt."
SNAP's standard deduction (48 states, gov.usda.snap.income.deductions.standard) is $198/$208/$244/$279 from October 2023, $204/$217/$254/$291 from October 2024 and $209/$223/$261/$299 from October 2025. The 7/24 manual is the newest on the VDSS manual page, so its table still shows the FY2024 amounts; its text ties the deduction to SNAP's.
Repro
Same result on 1.811.2 (45d51ef5d4) and on main (26348e7cf7).
from policyengine_us import Simulation
s = Simulation(situation={
"people": {"a": {"age": {"2025": 30}, "employment_income": {"2025": 6_000}},
"b": {"age": {"2025": 8}}, "c": {"age": {"2025": 5}}},
"tax_units": {"t": {"members": ["a", "b", "c"]}},
"spm_units": {"s": {"members": ["a", "b", "c"], "is_tanf_enrolled": {"2025": True}}},
"families": {"f": {"members": ["a", "b", "c"]}},
"households": {"h": {"members": ["a", "b", "c"], "state_name": {"2025": "VA"}}},
})
s.calculate("va_tanf_countable_earned_income", "2025-01") # 266.40 = 0.8 x (500 - 167)
Expected in January 2025: 236.80 = 0.8 x (500 - 204) with SNAP's FY2025 deduction (241.60 = 0.8 x (500 - 198) with the manual's table).
Possible fix
Compute the flat deduction from gov.usda.snap.income.deductions.standard (contiguous states) by assistance-unit size, or add the values from the manual's tables with their dates (and fix the 2016-01-01 date on the FY2020 values).
Impact on the PRD comparison
2025 aligned view, shared set: 3 Virginia units, $1,325 lower PE TANF (2026: $1,534).
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