Lose my file and I’ll do it for free: The New York Times reports that the Internal Revenue Service may have to take a $4bn hit to cover failed attempts to modernize its computer systems. The IRS has found that its customer service representatives must use as many as nine different computer terminals, each of which connects to several different data bases, to resolve problems, according to the paper. The $1.4 trillion tax revenue the US generates each year must be handled by what one IRS official admitted were dysfunctional superannuated applications. The system used to enter data for processing and posting to a taxpayer’s file is 12 years old, for example, and a system that routes payments for deposit is 19 years old. Thirteen internal modernization projects totaling $4bn expenditure are in severe trouble. Seems reason enough to retire to a tropical island while civilization collapses due to the Millenium Bug to us…
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