The commercial begins with a feminine, robotic voice saying, Your name is Tom. You live just off of Fifth Street. Nice car, Tom. A satellite-mounted camera eventually pinpoints Tom's house, near Harrisburg, and the ad ends with a clear threat:

Find us before we find you.

Critics of the ominous ad say Pennsylvania's TV and radio campaign offering amnesty to the state's tax "scofflaws" is far too Orwellian, but the state Department of Revenue says it had no choice but to get tough with the people and businesses that owe it millions of dollars.

The amnesty program, launched last month and running through June 18, hopes to collect $190 million in back taxes.

The program got off to a dubious start, with people reporting that they were receiving letters for dead relatives, for amounts less than $10 or for debts that were decades old. The same people were unable to call or e-mail the state Department of Revenue because of jammed phone lines and Internet servers, and they were frustrated by the state's antiquated system of financial record-keeping.

Those first-week snafus might have caught the department -- and the accused debtors -- off guard, but the buzz over the $3 million ad campaign is exactly what the department wanted.

"It's tough. It's edgy. We needed to cut through the clutter and motivate tax delinquents [to] get their attention," said Stephanie Weyant, department spokeswoman. The state wants not only to spread the word about the amnesty period but also explain that a crackdown -- and extra financial penalties -- await those who are tracked down after the amnesty expires.

The ad campaign was selected by the state, and by focus groups, out of a half-dozen concepts presented by the state's primary advertising agency, the Philadelphia-based Neiman Group.

Neiman's media office had no comment on its campaign, referring questions to the state.

If the state indeed hoped the ads would create a buzz, mission accomplished.

The TV ad has gone viral as bloggers and tax policy experts have criticized it, while Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell -- who OK'd the ads -- has been on Fox News to defend the campaign. Many of the critics are conservative writers and GOP groups, drawing a connection between Big Government and Big Brother.

A radio version of the ad carries a similar tone, telling listeners: "We are your telephone; we are your mail ... we are going to make your life very complicated." A second radio ad is more subtle but still ends with the tagline, "Find us before we find you."

A newspaper ad announces the "imminent death of Mr. Nice Guy."

Ms. Weyant said the fact that the TV ad has been seen by people across the country on the Internet is also a benefit of the campaign. "There are people in every state in this country who owe Pennsylvania back taxes," she said. "We couldn't afford to buy national advertising."

The state reports it has more than 200,000 out-of-state debtors.

Though visibility for the campaign has been high, few around the country have had anything positive to say about it.

"I think it's outrageous," said Joe Kristan, tax shareholder with Roth & Co. in Iowa. He also writes about tax policy on the company's Tax Update blog.

"We had [a tax amnesty program] a few years ago in Iowa. And what you're having in Pennsylvania is much darker than anything we've seen here. It's a very intimidating campaign. It might be effective, but it's intimidating."

Iowa's campaign offered sympathy to the taxpayers. A tax amnesty ad in Oregon took the same approach. Louisiana's amnesty program was pitched as a "Window of Opportunity."

Like many commentators, Mr. Kristan bristles at the suggestion -- made by the Department of Revenue -- that those who haven't paid their taxes are "scofflaws" or intentionally cheating the state.

Many individual taxpayers and businesses aren't even aware of their debts, especially people living out of state or businesses located out of state. Businesses literally have dozens of tax forms to fill out, and if they happen to do even incidental business in Pennsylvania, they might have a tax liability here.

"We have clients with exposure to Pennsylvania," Mr. Kristan said. "Pennsylvania has a fairly low threshold for at least one of its business taxes. ... So a lot of people end up being subject to Pennsylvania business taxes" without knowing it.

"I'm kind of offended by the notion that they're trying to paint taxpayers as scofflaws. I actually find it a bit distasteful," said Kelly Phillips Erb, a Philadelphia tax attorney with The Erb Law Firm.

Ms. Erb, who has been practicing tax law in Pennsylvania for 13 years, said perhaps one in 10 of her clients has deliberately not paid taxes. The rest either missed a payment unknowingly, forgot to fill out a form or fell behind and were afraid of contacting the state and calling attention to their wrongdoing.

"Look at New Jersey," she said. Its recent tax amnesty program netted nearly $750 million for the state. "Jersey didn't do any scare tactics at all," she said. "They got more than three times what they expected."

Ms. Erb said the TV spot was so spooky -- especially the part where the satellite camera zoomed in on the house -- that some of her clients were worried the state was actually going to publish photos of houses or home addresses of people who owed back money.

"I think you can be tough without being overtly scary," she said.

The current ads soon will be pulled from the airwaves. But not because the state is backing down. At the beginning of June, a second TV spot will begin running. It's similar to the first.

Visit www.pataxpayup.com.

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