Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Attention Market Pontificators: Witches to be Fined, Jailed if Predictions Don't Pan Out

From the AP via Yahoo:
There's more bad news in the cards for Romania's beleaguered witches.

A month after Romanian authorities began taxing them for their trade, the country's soothsayers and fortune tellers are cursing a new bill that threatens fines or even prison if their predictions don't come true.
Superstition is a serious matter in the land of Dracula, and officials have turned to witches to help the recession-hit country collect more money and crack down on tax evasion.

Witches argue they shouldn't be blamed for the failure of their tools.

"They can't condemn witches, they should condemn the cards," Queen Witch Bratara Buzea told The Associated Press by telephone....MORE
HT: the Mises Economics Blog which helpfully adds:
...Something like this should not come as a surprise in a country where the president, Traian Basescu, hit a child in the face while on his most recent campaign trail, but, shockingly, was still elected!...
Previously:

Jan. 9, 2011 
Tax Policy Debate, Romanian Style (witches, mandrake, cat poo, the usual)