Thoughts?

5/5/2010 6:18:17 PM

only slightly over the top

i actually find it a bit funny

[Edited on May 5, 2010 at 6:22 PM. Reason : ]

5/5/2010 6:21:38 PM

5/5/2010 7:17:17 PM

I wouldn't say it's over the top. The income tax is a huge invasion of privacy. Every individual is essentially an unpaid IRS agent, required by law to report any purchase or sale, while also handing over a cut of the value. The PATRIOT act requires all financial transactions to be reported to the federal government. Luckily, no one actually read the PATRIOT act, except possibly the writers. The fact that it passed is proof that Americans are stupid as shit, and the world is justified in mocking us.

As technology continues to improve, the government will find new, more effective ways to gather information about citizens. Most of you will happily cheer this process along as long as your party is in power. I think that's normally what happens in an authoritarian regime. The vast majority supports the government, and a small minority attempts to alert the masses that they're being stripped of their liberties. The majority rarely takes them seriously, insisting that the mainstream view is the correct one, and anyone that thinks differently is a conspiracy theorist.

5/5/2010 8:16:56 PM

Tell me that isn't a real commercial.

5/5/2010 10:09:38 PM

It's real

5/5/2010 10:19:55 PM

Okay, so maybe just a tad over the top.

5/6/2010 12:59:35 AM

It looks too well produced to be from a state.

5/6/2010 1:03:21 AM

Seems well-produced, and I could see it being over-the-top if it came from some interest group trying to start a fear campaign against taxation...

But do the producers of this ad have no self-awareness at all? It's like they were one step away from filling the whole thing with imagery from 1984. I'm having a hard time understanding why the state of PA is intentionally trying to make themselves look like some sort of invasive surveillance-based new world order... Do they need people to pay their taxes so badly now that they're trying to scare them into it with super-thinly-veiled threats?

The pseudo-extortion makes even less sense during the tax amnesty period... Seriously, advertise the whole "waive 100% of penalties and half of the interest" things that you've got on your website, don't try to conjure up some Orwellian mess and use it as a pro-state ad.

5/6/2010 1:17:17 AM

We're all talking about how scary/over the top the ad is, I just think maybe somebody should point out that it's saying, "OK, really you should have paid earlier but we'll let it slide," which is nicer than, say, my landlord.

5/6/2010 1:40:34 AM

amnesty for tax evaders > amnesty for illegal immigrants?

5/6/2010 2:31:22 AM

Quote :

"The income tax is a huge invasion of privacy. Every individual is essentially an unpaid IRS agent, required by law to report any purchase or sale, while also handing over a cut of the value. The PATRIOT act requires all financial transactions to be reported to the federal government. Luckily, no one actually read the PATRIOT act, except possibly the writers. The fact that it passed is proof that Americans are stupid as shit, and the world is justified in mocking us. As technology continues to improve, the government will find new, more effective ways to gather information about citizens. Most of you will happily cheer this process along as long as your party is in power. I think that's normally what happens in an authoritarian regime. The vast majority supports the government, and a small minority attempts to alert the masses that they're being stripped of their liberties. The majority rarely takes them seriously, insisting that the mainstream view is the correct one, and anyone that thinks differently is a conspiracy theorist."

Hear! Hear!



WAIT.... THIS WASN'T AN AD AGAINST TAXATION??!?!?!?
WHAT THE FUCK??!?
THIS WAS ACTUALLY AN AD PUT OUT BY THE PA REVENUE DEPT????!?!??

WHAT
THE
FUCK?



[Edited on May 6, 2010 at 8:35 AM. Reason : Burn them down. No Mercy.]

5/6/2010 8:23:49 AM

the ad probably cost more to make and run than it will recover in taxes.

5/6/2010 9:46:02 AM

i was thinking the same thing. seems like a waste of money for a state so intent on collecting it

5/6/2010 9:56:23 AM

Quote :

"The PATRIOT act requires all financial transactions to be reported to the federal government."

The PATRIOT act is essentially one big ass amendment to the BSA. It specifically deals with proper identification guidelines and money laundering in regards to financing terrorism. My point is that the BSA is what mostly affects the privacy of citizens.


As far as all financial transactions having to be reported to the federal government, it is actually any cash transactions $10,000 or more done in a single business day. This includes any form of structuring.


[Edited on May 6, 2010 at 10:46 AM. Reason : ]

5/6/2010 10:23:42 AM

It's not over the top. They're just telling the truth for once.

5/6/2010 10:33:42 AM

Quote :

"Do they need people to pay their taxes so badly now that they're trying to scare them into it with super-thinly-veiled threats?"

Given the current health of state budgets right now, my guess would be yes.

Quote :

"the ad probably cost more to make and run than it will recover in taxes."

Unless they had some ad agency who owed back taxes, and they cut a deal.

Quote :

"i was thinking the same thing. seems like a waste of money for a state so intent on collecting it"

I suppose its cheaper than sending their revenue boys to these houses to kick down doors.

5/6/2010 12:54:33 PM