Romanian witches face curse of taxes

January 6, 2011

Witch_edenpictures_Flickr2 Romanian lawmakers might be a bit on edge right now.

Some of the witches who now must pay an income tax for the very first time say they will use cat excrement and dead dogs to cast spells on the president and government officials.

The Eastern European nation, home of Vlad the Impaler who inspired the Dracula legend, is still quite a  superstitious place.

In fact, the first time Romanian lawmakers considered imposing the witch tax, it failed because some of the legislators feared they would be cursed if the law was enacted.

But financial need superseded superstition.

The new tax, which also targets astrologers and fortune tellers, took effect Jan. 1.

Under the new law, witches and the other practitioners of occult occupations are listed in Romania's labor code, treated like any self-employed person and are expected to pay 16 percent income tax and contribute to state health and pension programs.

Now we wait to see if the spells calling for evil to befall Romanian officials work.

If any lawmaker suffers the least bit of bad luck, I suspect a measure to repeal the witch tax will be quickly introduced.

Witch photo courtesy Eden Pictures (via Flickr Commons)

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