They Know Where You Live

From the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue comes a charming advertisement:

Link via Trey Garrison's Twitter feed. Reason's famous cover here.

Comments

[sage]

Yet another reason not to live or visit that state. There's also this.

[Ice2]

and dont forget the judges who took kickbacks to send kids caught smoking cigarettes to almost a year in juvinile rehibalation camps.

[capitol l]

Two words: state stores. That is all you need to know right there.

[sage]

Uh, "live in," that is.

[Pip]

Blocked at work. Executive summary, please.

[capitol l]

Pay your taxes, we know where you live.

[sage]

State of PA: We suck rat bung. Here's proof!

[Paul]

Zoom in of earth with 'hal-like' voice and Terminator-like targeting reticle zooming in on citizen's home: We know where you live, we know what kind of car you drive, we will get you. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way (only slightly paraphrased).

[JW]

Tom lives in either Lemoyne or Camp Hill. Hard to tell from all the zooming.

[Some dude]

Holy crap is that creepy.

[Jordan Elliot]

Oh yeah.

[NAL]

Holy creep is that crappy.

[Citizen Nothing]

Wow.

[Episiarch]

Can't watch at work. Can someone summarize?

[sage]

State of PA: We are monumentally giant bags of inbred shit.

[Episiarch]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that. Details, please.

[kinnath]

Google-Earth style zoom in from outer space to look at a single house from above. And the tag line is "We Know Who You Are".

[Jeffersonian]

It's an Orwellian threat where the State says, "We know where you live" and will, presumbly, go there to collect taxes owed.

[TrickyVic]

Orwellian threat.

Yeah. Who cares about that, it's so 1984.

[Paul]

Here.

[Hugh Akston]

We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Just like in BttF2.

[Citizen Nothing]

Female computer voice. Jump cuts zooming in from orbit to resolve on a suburban house (kind of Skynet-y).
"Tom, you own back taxes to the state. We know where you live. Pay now and avoid our wrath."
finis

[Enough About Palin]

They should have shot his dog for effect.

[Citizen Nothing]

At least they've cut the pretense.

[CJ]

Indeed. Now whether it'll help anyone who currently believes the government is a benevolent entity realize otherwise, that's another story.

[Wow]

Everyone should pay their fare share you know the drill.

[Pro Libertate]

Seems to me that the appropriate response involves Google Earth images of the statehouse, Dept. of Revenue HQ, and the governor's mansion.

[sage]

GET ON THE FLOOR, NOW!

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, I'm not the guy taking the pictures.

[JW]

Pennsylvania Governor's Mansion
2035 North Front Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102
[phone]

[Pro Libertate]

See? It's JW.

[JW]

I know where you live too ProL.

[Pro Libertate]

So does Reason--I was one of their cover victims.

[JW]

I let my sub lapse the month before that edition. I was kinda pissed about not getting that one.

[Pro Libertate]

I seem to recall that the default--when the subscriber's house couldn't be identified--was Nick's house.

[heller]

That's a nice lookin' place, Tom.

Be a shame if something bad were to happen to it.

[ap]

but its in the name of social justice! how can you object!

/sarcasm

[Mike M.]

They already have the authority to garnish a percentage of wages for unpaid back taxes, so I'm not sure why they're wasting money on this stupid ad.

[sage]

Because it's not their money. That's why.

[West Texas Boy]

Because some people might be self-employed and not get an actual paycheck?

[TrickyVic]

"" I'm not sure why they're wasting money on this stupid ad.""

Because the citizenry is easy to scare.

[Episiarch]

Jeebus, that is completely fucked up. I guess we've crossed the line: the parasites feel no need to pretend that they're not parasites any more.

[Pro Libertate]

Hubris, At?, divine retribution.

[JW]

Speak English, amigo!

[Ghost of Schr?dinger's cat]

It looks more like they're advertising a sale.
"If you pay before June, we'll cut the interest."

[West Texas Boy]

That is scary as shit... but what's scarier is that there is some bureaucrat hack somewhere who approved it and thinks that sort of approach is fine because people are duty-bound to pay taxes and the ends justify the means. Trolls, I'm looking at you.

Shit that's creepy... and likely 100% accurate, too. You can't hide forever.

[Pope Jimbo]

I'm wondering what ad agency pitched that concept. Were they serious? Or did they just just throw it out as a silly opening and have the state bureaucrats jump all over it?

I really hope the ad agency walked out of the meeting shaking their heads and asking each other what the fuck was going on.

[wylie]

And then the still took the job....

[Fist of Etiquette]

I saw this during a Pens game. At first I thought it was a spoof of some sort. Also, go Pens.

[capitol l]

Did you watch yesterday? Pretty painful.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ugh. I was there. Still beat watching NBC's coverage.

[Obama]

What? What's wrong with that ad? I don't get it.

[Rich]

You've Got A Fiend in Pennsylvania.

[just another lurker]

Oh my god.

The sad part is that 'Tom' may well be some poor schmuck who has been unemployed for the last 18 months.

Thanks Reason. I'm bookmarking this for future use. Washington state is of course pushing an initiative now (with Bill Gate's daddy as the frontman) to install an income tax. Governor Gregoire has indicated she'll support it, even though she flat out denied she'd ever support an income tax back when she was campaigning for reelection in 2004. The tax is 'only' supposed to target those above $200,000 but no one in their right mind believes that will last long.

[josey]

You can't even spoof that thing -- unless you want to end up on about a dozen watchlists.

On second thought, couldn't you report a state government to DHS? This would be deemed a credible terrorist threat in about three seconds were it produced by any regular citizen, no matter who or what the 'target' was; why would a similar standard not apply to a state?

Let some state float secessionist rhetoric, and then show up with a PSA where the US capitol is shown in the same manner as the guy's house was in this video -- how long would that be allowed to continue?

[CaptainSmartass]

One word: states-have-sovereign-immunity.

[The Libertarian Guy]

Why not? The left has already bastardized the word "seditious", after dragging it up from the basement and dusting it off for no good reason...

[Attorney]

The only thing that makes living in PA bearable is that NJ is so much worse.

[P Brooks]

"If you're not doing anything wrong paying your fair share, you have nothing to worry about."

[Ivan]

It is for the children, ya know.

[P Brooks]

Pennsylvania is a shithole.

[Chad]

I whacked off to this video.

Twice.

And I'm going to do it again in the morning.

[Chad]

I whacked off to this video.

Twice.

And I'm going to do it again in the morning.

[Chad]

I liked it so much, I double-posted.

[LarryA]

I lived in PA for a year, and got the hell out. The scary part of the video is that Tom may have no idea which of the state's multitudinous taxes he needs to fork over.

I particularly liked the "you have a nice car so you need to pay more" connection.

[JB]

Yeah, and I know where you fuckers work.

Government employees = welfare queens.

[James Anderson Merritt]

It reminds me of the "click it or ticket" or "DUI - You Can't Afford It" TV ads that I have seen here in California from time to time. The basic idea is that "we are the massive state, this is the law, and if you don't obey, we WILL catch you and we will crush you with shock and awe force."

The only good thing about those ads is that they wake me up out of my hypnotic stupor, whenever I start in any way to lapse into warmth and fuzziness about our great government leaders and protectors. They remind me why I have been on the anti-authoritarian side all these years, despite numerous exhortations to come in out of the cold and get with the program. I hope they have the same effect on others. That would be sweet.

[zuxabo]

This article is especially dedicated for the students who are ready to take up New Year resolutions. New Year resolution for students should make him / her lead to positive thinking and positive attitude.