1) The only conceptual model I think needs to apply is the how things are taxed. Granted some organizations have edge cases in how they pay taxes (or how they

1) The only conceptual model I think needs to apply is the how things are taxed. Granted some organizations have edge cases in how they pay taxes (or how they try to hide things) but I think innate complexity dominates unique edge cases when it comes to the tax code. 2) I would argue that much of this complexity shows up because many companies negotiate while ignoring the cost of adding complexity. Company wants to minimize cost, workers want to maximize benefits, complexity is a dead weight that benefits nobody. Once things have been negotiated it's hard to change, but during negotiation they is no need to end up with yet another edge case. PS: I don't think organizations end up spending 100+ million on their payroll systems because it's easy. I just think being proactive lets some companies minimize those costs. EX: Is Google's payroll system ugly?