Slick ads urge people to pay taxes

Rome: Italians will be urged to pay taxes in an advertising campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi. commissioned by the government as it struggles to avoid becoming the next victim of Europe's debt crisis.

The ads will demonstrate why paying taxes is essential for maintaining public services and show that those who evade them are "parasites who live at others' expense", Italy's Tax Agency said in a statement posted on its website yesterday. The campaign, which kicks off today, will feature two television and two radio commercials as well as posters in the main airports and railway stations and ads in leading publications.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on August 5 that the government will accelerate austerity measures and balance the budget in 2013.