Romania declares witchcraft a legally-recognized (and taxable) profession, pisses off witches

The government of Romania has updated labor laws to officially recognize witchcraft as a profession, part of a "drive to crack down on widespread tax evasion in a country that is in recession."

But some Romanian witches who will now have to pay taxes on income they earn for spellcrafting are not amused.

The Washington Post reports that "On Saturday, a witch called Bratara told Realitate.net, the website of a top TV station, that she plans to cast a spell using black pepper and yeast to create discord in the government." (Ed. note: As an aside, that url won't load for me).

That's Bratara Buzea, above (thumbnail via Yahoo News). The 63-year-old woman was imprisoned for witchcraft under communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's repressive regime.

This AP article, via MSNBC, says she is expanding her planned anti-government spell recipe to include cat excrement and dead dog. Oh yes she did. Shit just got real.

And President Traian Basescu isn't laughing it off. In a country where superstition is mainstream, the president and his aides wear purple on Thursdays, allegedly to ward off evil spirits.
Witches from Romania's eastern and western regions will descend to the southern plains and the Danube River Thursday to threaten the government with spells and spirits. Mauve has a high vibration, it makes the wearer superior and wards off evil attacks, according to the esoteric group Violet Flame -- which practices on Thursdays. A dozen witches will head to the Danube to put a hex on the government and hurl mandrake into the river "so evil will befall them," said a witch named Alisia. She identified herself with one name, as is customary among witches.
"This law is foolish. What is there to tax, when we hardly earn anything?" she said by telephone on Wednesday. "The lawmakers don't look at themselves, at how much they make, their tricks; they steal and they come to us asking us to put spells on their enemies."

More at AP.

(via Angeliska)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

MORE: Business • Culture • occult • Weird • witch • witches

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Jonathan Badger

This is Romania, home of Transylvania (although some Hungarians are understandably a bit touchy on that issue). You piss off the witches, who’s going to protect you from the hordes of the undead?
- Anonymous
  
  You clearly have no clue about history or Romania so you better start reading before speaking.
  Second,yes there are some gypsy’s that claim they do white and black magic,and some suckers that actually pay them in lots of euro depending on their requests and necessary sessions(from 100 to 5000 euros/session).So yeah they had to compromise dreaming the “witches” will actually pay taxes.
  The presidential thing is so fake that everybody that came up with this and believed it was seen as crazy.After losing in the last pres. elections,Mircea Geona(the candidate that lost) went on public tv claiming(he and his wife) that he lost because of the Violet Flame.He said the president had a violet tie and the prime minster a violet shirt causing him to act like a fool during a tv debate 3 days before the elections.He actually won in the country but with the outside votes Traian Basescu became president for the second time.
  Really,there are way more crazier and unbelievable things going on everyday.
drewand1200

If she weights the same as a duck, she must be made of wood! Tax her!
Verre

So Christine O’Donnell might find a more receptive audience for her campaign in Romania…
moosehunter

purple?

really?

like this?

(Googol Bordello

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ2RhwQirLk
Anonymous

Actually, this is very wrong. Romanian witches have nothing to do with the supernatural and a lot to do with organized crime, so declaring their activity taxable is pretty creepy.

This is how they usually operate: http://theromaniucfiles.blogspot.com/2011/01/not-charming.html
- blueelm
  
  That is a bit creepy, but isn’t it typical to tax any income? The extortion should be illegal, of course. But if I recall in the US one of the only ways that they could actually arrest some people in organized crime was through tax evasion.
Anonymous

This is kind of BS. The government didnt recognise witchcraft, but these women’s ability to make money. This is their trade, and its taxed like any other trade. I’m Romanian and I dont know any superstitious people.. besides a friend of my grandmother that actually does some form of light witchcraft
jdollak

Wrong, wrong, wrong! It’s AVOISION.
nerak

Her name is Bracelet.

<_<
Halloween Jack

“On Saturday, a witch called Bratara told Realitate.net, the website of a top TV station, that she plans to cast a spell using black pepper and yeast to create discord in the government.”

Wow, Julian Assange sure went to a hell of a lot of trouble for nothing, eh?
blueelm

Sounds fair enough to me.
EH

Just another case of a Wicca gettin hassled by The Man.
- Anonymous
  
  Wicca =/= witchcraft. In fact, I think I can safely say a large majority of witches are not Wiccan. And I’m sure these Romanian witches aren’t Wiccan if they’ve ever even heard of it. Wicca is a religion based off of witchcraft, but there are witches of all sorts of religions and some who have no religion. Witchcraft is hard to describe. Some say it’s the “use of supernatural or magic(k)al powers,” and others would say that it’s simple the use of forces not yet discovered by science.
  
  Anyway, point is: Wicca and Witchcraft are not the same thing. Your comment is erroneous.
- wrybread
  
  EH wins the thread.
- Tarliman
  
  1. These aren’t Wiccans, they’re Romanian ethnic practitioners.
  2. If they were Wiccans, they’d deserve the hassle. Look at their practices, which are clearly inviting disaster from the Law of Return and the Threefold Law.
  3. I say tax all religious practitioners who claim to produce effects in the secular world. If you’re doing thaumaturgy, you should pay taxes. Theurgists can be left alone, as there’s no way for us to determine if they’re producing any effects in the spiritual world.
  4. I’m a practicing pagan myself, a Druid and a member of an Earth-centered spirituality group at a UU church, so I get to talk smack about other pagans.
  - Niklas
    
    No need to be a pagan to talk smack to a pagan.
  - Philipshade
    
    I’m not a practicing anything and I’ll still talk smack about pagans (Christians or any other occult cult) all day long.
Anonymous

Try http://www.realitatea.net/ for the tv stations site. Spelling is not correct on the article.
Spookyland

If they tax witches, it proves that their craft is effective, so this is a government endorsement of the supernatural. Awesome.

On the other hand, paying taxes is a darn sight better than getting thrown into the caschielawis, so it sounds like these modern witches have smaller problems than their predecessors.

If you can’t build a bridge out of her, you shouldn’t tax her.
- peterbruells
  
  I don’t see how this follows. After all, they tax homeopaths and TSA employees, too.
- Ugly Canuck
  
  “If they tax witches, it proves that their craft is effective…”
  
  Not so.
  
  As far as I can see, these practitioners are little different than business, legal or medical consults, and I see no reason why they ought not to be taxed likewise: that is to say, taxed with a regard given to the size of the profits they derive from practicing their crafts, without any necessary examination of the actual efficacy, if any, of their actions and/or advice.
  
  That latter task would be a more suitable job for the Fraud Squad, than the Tax Man.
Ocker3

The WAPo article works just fine for me. Perhaps it was overloaded?
SamSam

the president and his aides wear purple on Thursdays, allegedly to ward off evil spirits. … . Mauve has a high vibration, it makes the wearer superior and wards off evil attacks, according to the esoteric group Violet Flame — which practices on Thursdays.

Wait, so are we supposed to wear purple, mauve or violet? Damn these articles, they never tell us what we actually need to know!
ill lich

Let’s see, some possible replies from government spokespeople:

“Oh, I’m sooooo scared!!”

“Casting a spell on the government is considered a terrorist act, and will land you in prison.”

“The tax rate is based on number of spells cast, so go ahead, it’s just more money for us.”

“We have already employed a government witch to ward off your hex, using the famous ‘I’m rubber, you’re glue’ incantation.”

“If you are considering using a dead dog for your spell, please be aware that you don’t want to get PETA after you, that is much worse than any hex you could incur.”
Antinous / Moderator

I’m not a practicing anything and I’ll still talk smack about pagans

Oh, you’re definitely a practicing something.
Anonymous

She plans to cast a spell using black pepper and yeast to create discord in the government

So, if it works, will anybody notice the difference?
vancouvergrrl

And is there good money to be made from spellcasting? Before taxes? I have a fair amount of black pepper around the house, and I love purple.
desiredusername

Republican witches are going to cacat their tine!
ViolettVerq

They did the same with prostitution in Germany some years ago. Prostitution is legal and you have to pay taxes for the money you get. I like stuff like that.
Glossolalia Black

Eh, them religious types are notorious for not wanting to pay their bills/taxes.
Spookyland

You guys are awesome. I respectfully withdraw my clumsy attempt to validate the supernatural.

See how sad you made the witch?

Good luck getting them to fill out Romanian tax forms or e-File.
Nash Rambler

Hmm, I think this will go a long way in legitamizing the Witches’ Union (local 233).
Saint Fnordius

You know, I think the one thing these witches are really pissed off about is that they will lose some of their mystique, being demoted to a business like any other. It’s a little hard to keep the supernatural air when you have to write up a receipt and charge 18% VAT.

After all, it’s not all that likely that they will be able to prove that the witches really took money, but it’s different if it’s a recognised business. And lots of these village witches may now face competition from those witches who play by the rules, and even use their new legal status to advertise.

Just another case of people hating change, really. It is so easy to just sit back and gripe.
sally599

I can understand why she’s bummed out but I thought those negative spells came back to you 3-fold. Let it go man, death and taxes are for everyone.
- Ugly Canuck
  
  Well, as there ARE some countries which still purport to enforce a death penalty for practicing witchcraft, in the case of witches that phrase may be just a little bit too literal.
Ugly Canuck

A song which witches may enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orNpH6iyokI
girl mark

Aah, slavs, and our modern acceptance of witchcraft (I bet that lady goes to Church and has no problem reconciling the two activities). Interesting cultural traditions happened when you didn’t really have an Inquisition.
- girl mark
  
  OOPS! I’m totally wrong about them having Slavic ethnicity. However, the Orthodox Church, which is prominent in Romanian culture, has had a history of tolerating much more paganism, outright witchcraft and sorcery, and other ancient ‘local color’ traditions that probably seem quite incompatible with Christianity to people from Western Europe’s Christian sects and to Catholics. We in the West tend to think of this stuff as being from a pre-Christian and pre-modern era, but in Eastern Europe it ran right alongside Christian practice in a way inconceivable to Western/Catholic descendents of the Inquisition.
  - Anonymous
    
    Thanks for that viewpoint. Nice to have a non-judgemental opinion
TooGoodToCheck

Yeast and black pepper actually sounds like the start of a decent recipe, maybe a focaccia? The cat excrement and dead dog are less promising.
Anonymous

Silly Romanians, they obviously misheard the idea about raising taxes on the rich.

This is nothing but the biggest thief and con artist on the block shaking down the smaller con artists when times are tough. What exactly has the Romanian government done that they should get a cut of the pointy-hat dollar?

“Anyone? Anyone? Buellescu? Buellescu?”
jellyfisher

Feelin’ pretty good about my decision to color my hair purple today. Not a single evil spirit in sight.
- Ugly Canuck
  
  Yeah you just keep thinking that. And stay away from mirrors!
luxulterior

How about just arresting them for taking advantage of the dumb and gullible?
Anonymous

This article omits the fact that these witches are Roma people, not ethnic Romanians.
_Username

We should try that here in the US, oh wait, would that lead exposing all religions to taxation? â€¦but really why should the church have to pay itâ€™s fair share of taxes when it has to spends so much resources indoctrinating simple mind folks and coving up massive fraud, corruption and sexual abuses â€¦what would we ever do with out them ?
nielsh

This has nothing to do with acceptance, endorsement or rejection of witchcraft. Seems logical to me that they tax whoever charges money for their services (regardless of the effects of those services). The new lax also affects undertakers, embalmers, fashion models, driving instructors, astrologists and fortunetellers.
BTW the original article is here.
benher

I guess they’ve never seen any Sam Raimi movies.
leneatiengo

Washington Post had a typo on the website source it is actually http://www.realitatea.net/, not Realitate.net.
Anonymous

Too many taxes? Irrational beliefs with no basis in history or science? They’ll all join the Tea Leaves Party.