Romania’s witches curse government for taxing them

Self-declared witches in Romania are preparing to curse the country's rulers publicly for taxing their profession under an amended labour law.Poisonous mandrake plants are due to be hurled into the River Danube, and queen witch Bratara Buzea has devised a spell involving cat dung and a dead dog.

An income tax of 16 per cent and health and pension payments have been imposed on 'witches'.

Witchcraft, widely regarded in Europe as superstition, continues to fascinate some Romanians – it is, after all, the supposed homeland of the legendary Count Dracula. Accusations of sorcery have arisen in politics, the legal system and other areas of public life in recent years.

''They [MPs] steal and they come to us asking us to put spells on their enemies,'' said Alisia, a Romanian witch. One of a dozen witches planning to hurl mandrake plants to bring "evil" on Romania's president and government, Alisia said her income was so small that the idea of taxing it was "foolish".

It was not immediately clear how car valets and driving instructors, also taxed for the first time, would react.

Their professions, along with those of witches, astrologers, fortune tellers and embalmers, were not listed in the previous labour code, and therefore not subject to tax.