Big Brother Want Your Back Taxes

Pennsylvania’s latest Orwellian tax amnesty ad – with “We Know Who You Are” – has been making the rounds.

Reason, Cato Institute, and Grassroots PA all blog the video. Breitbart TV also features the ad, and it was even picked up as far as Washington State.

The Tax Foundation also posts the video (and a graphic from print advertising) and offers a little more analysis on tax amnesty itself. Of course, as troubling as the ad may seem, remember that the state was unable to collect these back taxes, so they aren’t quite tracking your every move. And, indeed, the program has already hit snags, and many folks getting letters don’t actually owe taxes, they just didn’t file a return in some year.

The $3 million advertising campaign is expected to entice – or scare – tax delinquents to cough up $190 million in back taxes.

Pennsylvania has a history of silly advertising – from a rapping groundhog to promote medical careers, to websites like GroundhogDreams and GroundhogDuel, to “I’m not gonna get sick from you.” Perhaps, we should stop spending so much taxpayer money on advertising.