ABSTRACT
In the United States the collection of individual income tax was an early candidate for computerisation, and the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) developed innovative computer systems during the 1960s. After experiencing problems in the 1970s, they embarked on a major computerisation project during the 1980s; its name, Tax Systems Modernization, gives a clue of the modernist dreams that initiated its conception. The IRS still battles to implement its Tax Systems Modernization project in the 1990s, with costs spiralling out of control while operations are jeopardised by the crumbling systems still in use. This chapter investigates the story behind this result.
