Iowa’s top tax man says the computer systems that handle tax collections in 38 OTHER states have been modernized in the past decade. Iowa Department of Revenue director Kraig Paulsen is asking lawmakers to spend tens of millions over the next five years to replace HIS agency’s ancient computer networks.

It will cost the state about 18 million dollars THIS year alone to keep those systems running. Paulsen warns it’s getting harder to find people to fix things because they have to know COBOL  — a computer programming language created in 1959.