How come WE never thought of this?

[brooklynite]

from The Telegraph:

Romania attempts to tax witches and fortune tellers

The politicians who had drafted the new law claim it is because they feared they would be cursed if they passed the plans.

Alin Popoviciu and Cristi Dugulescu of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party drafted a law where witches and fortune tellers would have to produce receipts, and would also be held liable for wrong predictions.

Maria Campina, a well-known Romanian witch, said that it was difficult to tax thousands of fortune tellers and witches partly because of the erratic sums of money they received.

It's unclear whether there will be an attempt to redraft the law in Romania.

[Bitwit1234]

1. Maybe that is where one of the states got the idea

We had someone post lately that they were going to tax psychics. They said it would separate real ones from frauds. How they could tell the difference I can't realize, my crystal ball is being repaired.

[pinboy3niner]

3. If they CAN tell them apart, I'd tax the frauds and give the real ones a tax cut

Romanian legislators weren't taking any chances on getting cursed. The subhead on the story:

"Proposals to tax witches and fortune tellers in Romania were voted down by senators." :)

[BrklynLiberal]

2. That is right up there with the story of students betting on their grades.

http://www.newser.com/story/97735/new-site-lets-students-bet-on-their-grades.html

A new website is taking wagers from American college students who want to bet on their own grades. Just as Las Vegas sports books set odds on sporting events, Ultrinsic will pay top dollar for A's, a little less for the more likely outcome of a B average or better, and so on. Students can also wager they will fail a class by buying what Ultrinsic calls "grade insurance." The site is taking wagers from students at 36 colleges nationwide starting this month.
<snip>

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/business-news-briefs/2010/08/site_lets_students_bet_on_thei.html

It’s back-to-school season. And for those college kids who think they can get an A on that biology course or maintain a 3.7 GPA throughout their junior year, a new website may provide a little bit of an incentive.

Ultrinsic.com allows students from 36 college campuses across the U.S. to wager on how well they’ll do during the upcoming semester. And the site will pay you money for achieving or exceeding a certain grade.

"We’re going to help students get better grades and succeed in school,” says Jeremy Gelbart, the site’s co-founder. “This will make the overall school experience more enjoyable, this idea of giving the students their own control over their own rewards and goals.”

The site is billed as “the ultimate destination for students to play, study and win.” Here’s how it works: A student comes to the website, creates a free account, uploads their course history and enters their GPA. He or she then uploads their current schedule, and based on that schedule, they can create various types of incentives — like, say, an A on a certain course or a wager on their overall GPA — that if achieved, can result in cash.

<snip>

[ensho]

4. fantastical

what an interesting country

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Oh sure! And Vampires, as usual, are exempt!

It never changes.

[NightWatcher]

6. what's next, lawsuits for faulty fortune cookies?

[ensho]

7. lol

nt

[el_bryanto]

8. Perhaps they are a serious problem there - i dont' know how Romania is doing economically

But i do know that when times are tough people look for comfort whereever they can.

Bryant

[blondeatlast]

9. On the surface, it seems clever--but it's racism. They are attempting to tax the Romas,

aka Gypsies.

Taxing Native americans is a flawed analogy--but think about it a moment.

[TlalocW]

10. That would be good legistlation to have here

That way, all these scumbucket, flim-flam artists from Sylvia Browne to John Edward to Rosemary Altea, could be financially punished into having to get real jobs.

TlalocW

[cleanhippie]

11. Because it would give credibility.