Always enable the ACS donor (rent, real_estate_taxes imputation)

The ACS donor provider supplies the rent and real_estate_taxes source
imputation that eCPS also draws from ACS. It was gated by include_acs, so
the no-ACS / "eCPS-shaped" build variants dropped it and exported rent=$0
(the nation/census/rent target read $0 against a ~$735B baseline).

Decouple the ACS donor from include_acs / include_donor_surveys so it is
always enabled. ACS as a population spine ("multispine") remains a separate,
not-yet-enabled control. Update the CLI help text and the two provider-
assembly tests that encoded the old can-disable behavior.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: MaxGhenis

src/microplex_us/pipelines/pe_us_data_rebuild.py

@@ -155,19 +155,22 @@ def default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers(
             social_security_split_strategy=SOCIAL_SECURITY_SPLIT_STRATEGY_PE_QRF,
         ),
     ]
-    resolved_include_acs = include_donor_surveys if include_acs is None else include_acs
     resolved_include_sipp = (
         include_donor_surveys if include_sipp is None else include_sipp
     )
     resolved_include_scf = include_donor_surveys if include_scf is None else include_scf
-    if resolved_include_acs:
-        providers.append(
-            ACSSourceProvider(
-                year=int(acs_year),
-                policyengine_us_data_repo=policyengine_us_data_repo,
-                policyengine_us_data_python=policyengine_us_data_python,
-            )
+    # The ACS donor is always enabled. It supplies the rent and real_estate_taxes
+    # source imputation that eCPS also draws from ACS, so omitting it leaves those
+    # variables at zero. ACS as a population spine ("multispine") is a separate,
+    # independently controlled feature that is not enabled here; ``include_acs`` is
+    # retained for backward compatibility and no longer disables the donor.
+    providers.append(
+        ACSSourceProvider(
+            year=int(acs_year),
+            policyengine_us_data_repo=policyengine_us_data_repo,
+            policyengine_us_data_python=policyengine_us_data_python,
         )
+    )
     if resolved_include_sipp:
         providers.extend(
             [

src/microplex_us/pipelines/pe_us_data_rebuild_checkpoint.py

@@ -2130,8 +2130,9 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
         action=argparse.BooleanOptionalAction,
         default=None,
         help=(
-            "Include the ACS donor provider. Defaults to --include-donor-surveys; "
-            "use --no-include-acs for an eCPS-shaped run that keeps SIPP/SCF."
+            "Deprecated/no-op for the ACS donor: the ACS donor (rent, "
+            "real_estate_taxes) is always enabled, matching eCPS. Retained for "
+            "backward compatibility. ACS as a population spine is a separate control."
         ),
     )
     parser.add_argument(

tests/pipelines/test_pe_us_data_rebuild.py

@@ -145,17 +145,21 @@ def test_default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers_use_pe_style_bund
     assert isinstance(providers[5], SCFSourceProvider)
 
 
-def test_default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers_can_disable_donor_surveys() -> (
+def test_default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers_keeps_acs_when_donor_surveys_disabled() -> (
     None
 ):
+    # include_donor_surveys=False disables the SIPP/SCF donors, but the ACS donor is
+    # always enabled (it supplies the rent / real_estate_taxes imputation), so it
+    # remains alongside the CPS spine and PUF.
     providers = default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers(
         include_donor_surveys=False,
         cps_download=False,
     )
 
-    assert len(providers) == 2
+    assert len(providers) == 3
     assert isinstance(providers[0], CPSASECSourceProvider)
     assert isinstance(providers[1], PUFSourceProvider)
+    assert isinstance(providers[2], ACSSourceProvider)
 
 
 def test_default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers_can_include_donor_surveys() -> (
@@ -177,24 +181,27 @@ def test_default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers_can_include_donor
     assert isinstance(providers[5], SCFSourceProvider)
 
 
-def test_default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers_can_disable_only_acs() -> (
+def test_default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers_always_includes_acs_donor() -> (
     None
 ):
+    # The ACS donor is mandatory: it supplies the rent / real_estate_taxes source
+    # imputation (as eCPS does), so it is present even when include_acs=False. That
+    # flag no longer disables the donor.
     providers = default_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_source_providers(
         include_donor_surveys=True,
         include_acs=False,
         cps_download=False,
     )
 
-    assert len(providers) == 5
+    assert len(providers) == 6
     assert isinstance(providers[0], CPSASECSourceProvider)
     assert isinstance(providers[1], PUFSourceProvider)
-    assert isinstance(providers[2], SIPPSourceProvider)
-    assert providers[2].block == "tips"
+    assert isinstance(providers[2], ACSSourceProvider)
     assert isinstance(providers[3], SIPPSourceProvider)
-    assert providers[3].block == "assets"
-    assert isinstance(providers[4], SCFSourceProvider)
-    assert not any(isinstance(provider, ACSSourceProvider) for provider in providers)
+    assert providers[3].block == "tips"
+    assert isinstance(providers[4], SIPPSourceProvider)
+    assert providers[4].block == "assets"
+    assert isinstance(providers[5], SCFSourceProvider)
 
 
 def test_build_policyengine_us_data_rebuild_pipeline_returns_configured_pipeline() -> (