Dutch Witches Get Tax Break for Studies

[tocqueville]

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 30, 8:48 PM ET

APPELSCHA, Netherlands - Cobwebs cling from the wooden rafters. Dusty shelves are cluttered with glass jars of home-brewed potions, dried herbs and stone amulets. An oil cooker and a black cauldron sit in the corner, ready for the next full moon. This isn't a Halloween party, it's Margarita Rongen's year-round workshop and she is a witch — according to her tax return.

Dutch witches were guaranteed a financial treat when the Leeuwarden District Court reaffirmed their legal right to write off the costs of schooling — including in witchcraft — against their tax bills. Those costs run to thousands of dollars.

The court found on Sept. 23 that a witch can declare schooling costs if it increases the likelihood of employment and personal income.

Rongen, a mother of two grown children, runs a school for witches, the "Witches Homestead," in the northern Friesland province of the Netherlands. She has trained more than 160 disciples over the past four decades in "a religion that is older than Christianity," she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051031/ap_on_fe_st/netherlands_witch_s_tax_break

[xchrom]

1. very cool.

i just love the way the dutch think.

[Christa]

2. they give tax breaks to prostitutes as well

you can't help but love the Dutch :P :party: :toast: :smoke: :applause: