News that Florida legislators are weighing the elimination of property taxes in the Sunshine State makes it an apt moment to reconsider why governments across the country are relying on this antiquated form of revenue collection — a relic of the 18th century.

Because changing how things are done requires work and there is no profit motive to push governments to innovate, the public sector is almost always on the trailing edge of technology. The IRS uses a computer language, Cobol, that dates to 1959 and disappeared from the private sector decades ago.