We Can All Learn a Thing or Two From the Dutch AI Tax Scandal

I've made the argument before that technology has a lot to offer the field of tax. But for all the potential that technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms have to streamline processes and inform policy, they remain tools--tools that must be wielded by real human beings (at least for now) at the direction of human policymakers (at least for now). The Kinderopvangtoeslagaffaire is a tax and political scandal currently rocking the Netherlands--literally translated to "childcare allowance affair." Despite complex political underpinnings, the core elements of the scandal are straightforward. In 2013, the Dutch government deployed artificial intelligence to handle childcare benefits applications and, as you might guess, it did not go well.