Post their earnings on the Web and they will come

The Italian government has found the secret to a really, really popular Web site - just post every citizen's earnings and taxes online.

The BBC reports the site was "hugely popular" - we'll bet it was - and overwhelmed within a few hours.

Nonetheless, it remained up for 24 hours before the government's privacy watchdog made the finance ministry take it down.

People were naturally curious about what other people - especially neighbors, co-workers, celebrities and the super-rich - are making.

But there may have been an element of artistic appreciation as well.

In Italy, tax evasion is regarded as an art form, almost a civic obligation.

The BBC quotes an Italian government report that the amount of unpaid taxes in the country amounts to 7 percent of GDP.

A ministry official described the posting as a move to improve transparency, which surely almost no one believed.

The outgoing government had come into office with, among other pledges, a vow to enforce the tax code efficiently and fairly. Evidently that didn't go so well.

One good explanation, which will do until a better one comes along, is that it was the government's revenge on the people for voting it out of office.

It was a great idea for a Web site while it lasted.

Scripps Howard News Service