This has to be my favorite tax story of the week (even better than my vodka story, coming later today).
The Telegraph (UK) is confirming reports that Romania’s Senate has voted down a proposal to tax witches and fortune tellers because… wait for it… they were scared of being cursed. Yeah, I’m not making that last part up.
The law would have required witches and fortune tellers to (gasp) produce receipts in an effort to track their revenue. Even better, they would have been held liable and potentially fined for erroneous predictions (Hmm, I’m thinking that last part might hold some appeal in the US as applied to weather forecasters but I digress).
Romania, like much of the world, is looking at alternative methods of raising revenue in a down economy. Two lawmakers, Alin Popoviciu and Cristi Dugulescu, came up with the idea to focus on witches and fortune tellers (apparently *somebody* got a bad reading). Their fellow legislators weren’t quite as enthusiastic about the proposal, fearing retribution, not from voters, but from those with supernatural powers. The law is off the table for now. There’s no word on whether a reworked proposal might be offered at a later date. Might I suggest after Halloween?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Oooh! I have been to Romania and I know a few Romanians, and I can TOTALLY imagine this happening. My best friend is a modern, progressive, smart woman from Romania, and she still yells at me if I whistle after nightfall.
Taxing bad predictions seems safe, though — how can they do a decent curse if they can’t read my palm?