In 1971 the Internal Revenue Code was amended to provide for depreciable lives for tax purposes from 20 percent less of the guideline lives previously established to 20 percent more of the guideline lives. The Secretary of the Treasury announced that depreciable lives could be chosen within a 40 -percent range. A noted accountant remarked that the govern-

ment could have allowed a range of choices of 100 percent (from 20 percent less to 80 percent more) with the same effects on tax collections as the 40 percent range. What did the accountant mean?