Newsgroups: can.general
Path: utzoo!lsuc!dave
From: dave@lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman)
Subject: Re: Tax Revolt Now!!
Date: Thu, 17-Aug-89 04:45:49 EDT
Summary: yep, the Income Tax Act is a program
Message-ID: <1989Aug17.044553.22212@lsuc.on.ca>
References: <1989Aug14.231027.11461@lsuc.on.ca> <2400@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca>
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto

In article <2400@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca>, chk@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca (C. Harald Koch) writes:
> >I don't suggest our tax system is anywhere near perfect.  It's
> >a result of thousands of compromises in hundreds of different
> >directions.  But those who suggest simplistic solutions should
> >bear in mind all of the viewpoints, each of which may individually
> >be valid, which justify those compromises.
> 
> Boy, it sounds alot like writing Tax Legislation is similar to writing
> Computer Software. "thousands of compromises in hundreds of different
> directions" sounds awfully familiar in this profession...

Yes, there are a lot of similarities.  In fact, the Income Tax Act,
through drafted by people who didn't and don't know anything about
computers, is really written in a kind of meta-PROLOG.  The ramifications
for an AI representation of the Act are fascinating.  (I did my LLM
thesis on this topic a few years ago.  Anyone who's interested, feel
free to ask me for a copy, as long as you will actually read it.)

I'd like to deal with some of the other postings that have
raised questions about tax, but I'll be away for a few weeks.
I'll get back to them in September (we keep a long expiry on
can.general here...)

David Sherman
-- 
Moderator, mail.yiddish
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