Originally Posted By: joemikeb
You are overlooking government regulations our purchasing major assets like...a computer system (hardware and software) such as those used by the IRS, Medicare, etc]/I]. One of these requirements is a major asset must have an expected lifespan of at least twenty-five (25) YEARS. The intent of congress in passing those regulations was to save money by making sure the cost of an asset could be amortized over a long span of time. When those regulations were written in the '50s and '60s very few people were aware of the accelerating rate of technological change and even fewer could even imagine the unintended consequences of those regulations in the future. (NOTE: desktop and laptop computers are cheap enough they do not trigger the asset regulations and are therefore free of those constraints.)

I wasn't even aware that such a regulation existed, and I can't disagree with it in its essence, but while Congress can mandate that an asset's expected lifespan be 25 years, attempting to mandate its real lifespan is a silly exercise, and ignoring reality because it doesn't fit into a preordained pigeonhole is neither good business nor good government.

On the other hand, though, it is the government. frown

Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Rationally, to you and to me, dropping all but the last four digits of the SSN from a 1099 appears trivial but the changes required in the IRS system alone would cost probably hundreds of millions of dollars and maybe five to ten years to accomplish (assuming congress would authorize the expenditure, which is unlikely).

Again, beyond of my experience, not to mention mind-boggling, but I don't see why adding "-A" to my SSN, which increased the size of a pre-ordained field, wasn't a more complicated change to the system than working within the existing field size and printing "xxx-xx" in place of "123-45" would have been.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire