Rich and poor, young and old — for a few hours this week there were no secrets among Italians when millions of tax returns were published online, and promptly taken down again after howls of protest.

The country’s privacy watchdog ordered the national tax office, the Agenzia delle Entrate, to suspend publication on its website of personal information filed by all Italian taxpayers, arguing that the unprecedented move was a violation of privacy.

The information gave full details of tax returns, including not only income declared and tax paid for 2005 but also names, addresses and birthdates. The data were arranged alphabetically and according to the municipality in which the tax declarations were filed.

Right-wing politicians called the publication an act of revenge by the outgoing Government, and a well-known comedian said that it would be better in future not to pay taxes at all — just a fine if caught.

The watchdog urged the media not to publish information from the tax office website. However, La Stampa described the earnings of Italians from Silvio Berlusconi, the incoming Prime Minister, to the fashion designers Giorgio Armani and Donatella Versace and Fabio Capello, the England football manager.

Massimo Romano, head of the tax office, said that the publication had been “in the public interest, in order to allow the free circulation of information in a framework of transparency”. He said that the decision was in accordance with guidelines from the privacy watchdog. Francesco Pizzetti, the head of the watchdog, said that it had not been told of the idea.

The Centre Right, which won elections last month, accused Vincenzo Visco, the Deputy Economy Minister in the Government of Romano Prodi, of releasing the data as “an act of revenge” on Italians for voting in large numbers for the Right.

Mr Visco called this absurd. He said that publishing the tax returns was in line with an EU directive on financial transparency with which — apart from Italy — only Cyprus and the Czech Republic had complied.

The aim was to tackle tax evasion and financial crime, Mr Visco said. Consumer groups said, however, that the disclosures risked increasing crime “given that the information made public will be of great interest to criminal elements”.

The comedian Beppe Grillo, whose “anti-political” movement attacks the privileges of the governing elite, called the publication “madness, pure madness”. He added: “This is going to make paying taxes very dangerous.

It will be much safer and less risky to just evade taxes and pay the fine if you’re caught.”

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