10/22/2025
We were thrilled to celebrate the 13th Anniversary of the Open Gov Hub and highlight member organizations that are driving transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement forward.
A big thank you to our newest member, , for sharing their inspiring mission and vision during the program. Special thanks to , Co-founder and CEO of PolicyEngine, for his insightful presentation. PolicyEngine's main mission is to "Empower citizens through open source economic policy simulation.”
Max laid out why their work is so critical:
The Challenge: Making Budgets Comprehensible
Max noted that "Budgets manifest society’s priorities". But how can the average person truly understand the impact of complex policy changes on their daily lives?
The Solution: Software for Transparency
PolicyEngine's thesis is simple: "Software can help". They provide a free, open source tax-benefit rules engine that enables citizens and policymakers to understand complex economic policy in two key ways:
1. Individual Impact: Users can get an instant and clear calculation of their net income, showing their market income, benefits, refundable tax credits, and tax liability.
2. Policy Impact: They offer tools for reform simulations, allowing users to model policy changes and see their effect—like how making the CTC fully refundable would reduce the poverty rate by 4.7%.
Their ultimate goal is to "show how policy affects us all" by going beyond aggregate macroeconomic impacts (like GDP growth and revenue estimates) to demonstrate how bills affect individual households.
We are excited to have PolicyEngine as part of the Open Gov Hub community, joining us in our collaborative space , and advancing the urgent need for transparency in economic data and policy.
Thank you, Max and the entire PolicyEngine team, for your vital work! We look forward to a successful journey together at OGH.
