
Sheldon S. Cohen, IRS commissioner who computerized agency, dies at 91 - danso
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/sheldon-s-cohen-irs-commissioner-who-computerized-agency-dies-at-91/2018/09/05/69ac41b2-b06a-11e8-9a6a-565d92a3585d_story.html
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nerdponx
What an interesting character.

 _Mr. Cohen admitted in a letter to Long that the extent of wiretapping was
far more extensive than initially revealed. By his count, the IRS had made
“improper” and “questionable” use of wiretapping 287 times between 1958 and
1966, mostly owing to the “overzealousness on the part of certain personnel
engaged in the investigation of the criminal element.”_

 _Although his sparring with Long generated negative headlines, Mr. Cohen said
it was far from his greatest concern during his four-year tenure. “The most
embarrassing thing that happened to me in office was that millions of persons
below the poverty line had to pay taxes,” he said in 1969 as he championed a
system in which the poorest Americans would not pay income taxes._

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Animats
The "Martinsburg Monster". It was a huge win for the IRS when they could
crosscheck the employer's tax info filed for employees with the employee's
filing with the IRS.

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chx
The big question: how do you modernize the Master Files? I know there are
proxies in front but as far as I am aware (from a report like two years ago)
the original codebase is still humming along.

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lowry
How can a single guy computerize the whole IRS?

It probably just "happened" while he was its head. It would have happened
anyway. Because progress.

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iainmerrick
Do you know what managers do?

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russfink
"91?" Beg your pardon, but this computer guy was in his fifties. 0x51 to be
precise.

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qubax
> "91?" Beg your pardon, but this computer guy was in his fifties. 0x51 to be
> precise.

Not sure the math quite works out.

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anjc
You're right, he was Fifty B

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coldtea
IRS? So, morally kind of like the guy who computerized dissident tracking in
USSR.

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Retric
Complaining about the IRS is like complaining about the government’s audacity
to build roads. If you don’t like taxes blame congress, the IRS like the
police just quietly avoids anarchy.

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patrickaljord
Not a libertarian myself but I suppose OP is. You do realize that the "roads"
argument is probably the worst one you could use against a libertarian? It's
basically an in-joke in libertarian circles. It's kind of like quoting the
bible as an argument when arguing with an atheist, not very convincing.

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majos
What's so laughable about roads?

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patrickaljord
Not sure it's a good place to have a debate on this, maybe you should ask in a
libertarian forum. First link that comes on google when you search for it is
this link [https://beinglibertarian.com/no-one-talks-regarding-muh-
road...](https://beinglibertarian.com/no-one-talks-regarding-muh-roads/)

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rando444
You should at least read an article yourself before you share it with others.
That article is about how roads are used, not how they are built.

In fact that article even argues that it's perfectly fine for the government
to be responsible for building roads.

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patrickaljord
The libertarian argument is that the government is not the only one that can
or should build roads.

