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Romania may send witches to jail if predictions don't come true
Yes, we're aware it's closer to Valentine's Day than Halloween, but the news that Romania has decided to impose even tougher regulations on its witches (yes, witches) is generating 'round the globe chatter.Just one month after authorities began to impose a tax on their trade, the country's witches and soothsayers are fighting against a new bill that will impose a fine and perhaps even jail time if predictions don't come true.
In January, the government changed labor laws to officially recognize witchcraft as a taxable profession, prompting angry witches to dump poisonous mandrake into the Danube in an attempt to put a hex on them. The new bill would also require witches to have a permit, to provide their customers with receipts and bar them from practicing near schools and churches.
The taxes, imposed as a way to fight tax evasion and help the recession-strapped country generate additional income, are drawing understandable ire from the country's witches. The country was the recipient of a $27 billion bailout from the International Montetary Fund in 2009.
"They can't condemn witches, they should condemn the cards," Queen Witch Bratara Buzea told The Associated Press.
"The government doesn't have real solutions, so it invents problems," Stelian Tanase, a well-known Romanian political commentator told The Associated Press. "This is the government that this country deserves."
We think the real problem is recognizing "witch" as a legal profession.
[Flickr via access.denied]
Filed under: Romania
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
elena Feb 26th 2011 9:41AM
The taxes, imposed as a way to fight tax evasion 24 procent; comment www.sexshop-romantic.ro online
L Apr 27th 2011 7:24PM
It sounds like wacky news, but the reality is a bit more serious and complex, as it also touches delicate subjects such as minorities, their rights and their traditions. The so-called witches belong traditionally to the gypsy community, but nowadays the "witchcraft" became a dangerous scam playing with people's despair. Many gullible people ruin themselves because after the initial payment the witches start threatening them with a curse if they don't pay more; they do, but the "witch" finds another pretext to ask more money etc.
Witchcraft is a taxable profession only to avoid tax avasion, as the person above said, not because anybody thinks it's a legit job. It is also the only way to restrict abuse without infringing the gypsy people's rights to continue their traditional practices.