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.
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.
oh, I know there was that cheating going on, probably since the inception of SS. But what raw # of children were reported the year before? What percent does 7M represent of the total number of children claimed?
When I referred to ‘back when” I wasn’t referring to the 70s and 80s when it became rampant and necessary to require kids’ SS#s.