[EDINVA]

That’s TODAY and 12 years ago ... it’s not 1977, well before the radical changes to SS that took place in the early 80s, and since.

Way back when, people (at least in large numbers) didn’t file false deductions for kids, there was a certain level of trust that no longer exists. Look up the SS regs in the 60’s and 70’s. Totally different from today.

[Oratam]

I remember my father needed my brother and I to apply for our SS numbers in the late ‘70s or ‘80. He needed them to claim us as dependents.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Way back when, people (at least in large numbers) didn’t file false deductions for kids, there was a certain level of trust that no longer exists. Look up the SS regs in the 60’s and 70’s. Totally different from today.

Way back then our local newspaper had an SSN Contest where you would clip a coupon out of the paper, put your SSN on it and mail it to them. They would draw a number each week and print it in the paper, and if it was yours you were a winner. Hard to fathom today....but true.

[chaosagent]

Way back when, people (at least in large numbers) didn’t file false deductions for kids, there was a certain level of trust that no longer exists.

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Actually that’s not true. On 4/15/1987 seven million children disappeared in the US overnight.

That’s the date the IRS started requiring SS# for all minor dependents on their tax returns.