Section 1706

From Janet Ruhl's excellent book Answers For Computer Contractors.

Section 1706 did nothing but eliminate the exemption that had prevented computer programmers from having to meet the IRS's usual tests for independence. It was lobbied into law by a consortium of large consulting firms... [who] hoped that shifting contractors to W-2 status would drive smaller consulting firms out of the market...

Section 1706 passed into law with no public discussion. In fact, most contractors were unaware of its existence until it went into effect in January of 1987...

Section 1706 has probably cost me thousands of dollars. It's hard to say. And I live in fear of its provisions every day of my life. Admittedly, it's a very small fear, along about the lines of the fear that the FBI will decide I'm a white supremacist and start sniping at me from the hill above my house, but still.

Three felonies a day, folks, three felonies a day.