Witch Tax and Magic Guarantee:Tools Of Oppression?

What is behind the Romanian government's sudden interest in witches? It could be the economy, embarrassment, or ugly prejudice. That government has increasingly targeted the country's centuries-old witchcraft practice, declaring it a taxable occupation, denying witches tv advertising rights, banning witches from practicing their craft near schools and churches, and mandating permits and receipts. Now the Romanian parliament is proposing to go further and impose a standard of absolutely liability on witches.

Absolute liability? That's right, the Romanian parliament is weighing legislation that would impose fines and possible jail time on witches whose prognostications proved inaccurate. No magic unless the results are guaranteed sounds awfully close to an outright ban on witchcraft. There is precedent for such action in that two witches were charged with fraud in 2003 when they offered cures that failed to work.

In the United States, absolute liability is reserved for enterprises that are inherently dangerous, like blasting with dynamite. Imagine if doctors, lawyers, teachers, financial advisors and other professionals were required to guarantee results. No one would dare practice any occupation without insurance, and skyrocketing insurance rates would undoubtedly dismantle the economy.

Why Romania's sudden interest in singling out witches? It could be financial. With a down economy, legislators worldwide are looking high and low for possible new sources of tax revenue. Rather than increase taxes on already-overburdened segments of the population, it may be politically more palatable to tax an untaxed segment. But with a paltry 4000 witches among a population of 21 million in Romania, it seems unlikely that the major motivation for the renewed scrutiny on witches is solely the potential revenue from the 16 percent tax imposed in January. Parliamentary efforts to impose place restrictions, advertising bans, and liability on witches strongly points to a motivation beyond filling the tax coffers.

If it's not tax money driving the anti-witch laws, could it be embarrassment? Certainly, Romania is seen in some quarters as a backward country with a superstitious population. But what looks more ridiculous to the world-at-large- a populace willing to support a thriving witchcraft trade or a government so determined to eradicate witches that it imposes a standard of absolute liability on their practice? People who are laughing at Romania today aren't laughing at the witches or the Romanian people who swear by them but the government that declared witchcraft a trade subject to taxation and demanded perfection in its practice.

The more likely explanation for the sudden clampdown on witchcraft is prejudice. Most "vrajitoares," as the witches are known, are women and they are of Romani descent. The Roma population has been the subject of longstanding discrimination throughout Europe; in recent memory:

* the French government took action to expel the Roma from its borders;
* Hungarians have committed disturbing violence against the Roma even while their government strives to improve educational and other opportunities for the country's Romani citizens;
* Italy waged a campaign of harassment against the Roma, including fingerprinting and photographing, incident to creating a database of a group already subject to violence, evictions, and police abuse; and,
* the Czech Republic has long isolated Romani children in substandard schools.

Far away from Romania , the Maryland Court of Appeals had occasion to rule on the legitimacy of gypsy fortunetelling earlier this year. Fortunetelling is an established part of the practice of Romani witches, and indeed its practice in Montgomery County stems from the Romani tradition. But though Maryland 's psychic arts practitioners may use the same tools of the trade as the Roma witches, they practice in an environment free of the historical superstitions that permeate Romania 's culture.

A skeptical Montgomery County had declared gyspy fortunetelling charlatanism, banning its for-profit practice, back in the 1970s. This approach is a little like what the Romanian legislators are doing now, though they are using a less direct approach than an outright ban. An outright ban in Romania would hark back to Communist law and might generate a backlash well beyond the witch population. But taxing, regulating and demanding perfection- might not those tools have the same effect as a ban?

In Maryland, the appeals court took a pragmatic approach. Finding that frauds exist in every occupation, the court said fortunetelling fraud did not warrant outlawing the paid practice of psychic arts altogether. The constitutional right to freedom of expression protects the rights of fortunetellers to offer prognostication for pay, the court ruled.

If there's room for imperfect Romani fortunetelling in affluent and sophisticated Montgomery County, it's hard to fathom any legitimate reason for its ancestral home of Romania to continue its tax and regulate-to-the-death mission. Perhaps Romania ought to think expansively and consider the value of integrating its witches into the tourism economy.

Sources:

Institute of Race Relations, "Violence and Harassment in Hungary"
European Roma Rights Center, International NGO Coalition Report Outlines Extreme Deterioration of Roma Rights in Italy
European Roma Rights Center, Institutionalized Racism and Roma
Grigore, Cristiana, "Bringing Out the Gypsy in Me," New York Times, Nov. 2, 2010.
Laycock, Joseph, "Romania's 'Witch Tax,:' Magic Meets Bureaucracy," RD Magazine, Jan. 26, 2011.
Mutler, Alison, "Romania May Get Even Tougher on Witches," San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 8, 2011.
"Gypsy Fortunetelling Ban by Washington DC Suburb Ruled Unconstitutional," June 15, 2010.