It’s impossible to imagine the Internal Revenue Service or most other number-crunching agencies or companies working without computers. But when the IRS went to computers in 1961 by unveiling the Automatic Data Processing system in Martinsburg, West Virginia there was an uproar. The public then envisioned a scenario in which erroneous notices forced people to overpay, or $100 million dollars in unwarranted refund checks were issued.

Now that 54 years have passed we all know the benefits of a computerized system: Computers speed up processing times, discover errors taxpayers make against themselves, and verify that all citizens pay a fair amount. It is through this resource that the IRS can more efficiently meet its functions in light of the 2015 IRS budget that was just cut $341 million by Congress. Read More