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Curse Fear Spells End To Fortune Teller Tax
1:14pm Friday September 10, 2010
Damien Pearse
Politicians in Romania have dropped plans to tax fortune tellers and witches amid fears they will be cursed.
Well known fortune teller Maria Campina (r) and one of her daughters
Officials drafted a law demanding the tax as well as measures to ensure that psychics were held liable for faulty predictions. But the plans were rejected by Romania's senate. Alin Popoviciu, of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party, who proposed the change, said politicians were frightened of being cursed. It was not immediately clear whether Mr Popoviciu would redraft the law, to take account of his colleagues' concerns.
The death card is shown in a Tarot reading
Maria Campina, a well-known Romanian witch, told Realitatea TV that it would be difficult to tax the thousands of fortune tellers and witches in the country. She said they made erratic sums of money, and receipts would be difficult to keep. Romania is in a severe economic downturn and is trying to raise revenue from new taxes.
The government hiked VAT from 19% to 24%, and slashed public sector wages by a quarter. Romania negotiated a £16.4bn loan with the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank to help pay state wages and pensions last year.
