Romania Now Taking Donations

The Romanian government is taking an unusual approach to fixing its economic problems; it has created a donation box. Everyone except legal entities can donate money to the newly formed "solidarity fund." From the article: "Officials said the new fund is aimed at public officials who earn additional income on top of regular wages by serving on administrative boards of companies entirely or partially owned by the state. Prime Minister Emil Boc has also said he will donate his wages to the fund, but the account is open to anyone who wishes to contribute. Donations can be made by bank transfer to a special account and a list of donations will subsequently be published on the ministry's website."

Comments

Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[tepples]

A lot of libertarians want to make taxes voluntary, just as charitable contributions are voluntary. It surprises me that one of the first implementations of this comes from the land of Numa Numa.

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[M8e]

You already have a choice. Pay taxes OR risk that the IRS comes after you. You can also avoid taxes in semilegal ways.
There was even a choice in the medieval times. Pay taxes OR getting an corporal punishment.[salute]

This is just, pay extra tax OR lose votes in the next election.

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Nitpick: Numa Numa was Moldavian, not Romanian (although they do speak the same language and they're neighbouring countries).

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Technically Numa Numa (i.e., Dragostea din tei) is a Moldovan song. But Moldova should, by every right, be a part of Romania, so you're sort of right.

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[spaanoft]

Interestingly, the province of Ontario sort of has something like this. There's a section on the provincial tax return where you can donate any amount you want to the provincial government, ostensibly going directly towards debt reduction (or you can donate directly if you want). Supposedly it gets about $100,000 a year. Not much, but I guess it's another million less gathering interest.

http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/en/credit/oof/index.html

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[spaanoft]

Uhm, not a million. Sorry. I rewrote the previous sentence and forgot to remove the last one.

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[gr8dude]

Only 4 comments, and someone already pointed that out; Slashdot is fast!

Are you from Romania or from Moldova (Republic of)? From what I know, not everyone in Romania wholeheartedly agrees that the states have to be reunited. The situation in Moldova itself is not clear either.

There is internal resistance on either side, I don't see how this integration will take place in the near future.

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[SYSS Mouse]

Actually the Revenue Canada does that also. Also, you get a tax receipt for donating to the government (strictly speaking, governments are charities.)

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[psm321]

So does the US. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[pandronic]

It surprises me that one of the first implementations of this comes from the land of Numa Numa.

With us, Romanians, being retarded and all ..

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[Poorcku]

libertarians don't think that. those are the anarchists. every libertarian recognizes the importance of the state, and while taxes are coercive (which goes against the libertarian thinking) there are no other known methods of making a first and second party pay when there is a third party that is not involved in the contract but feels the consequences (like toxic waste). And please don't call us libertarians. We are liberals. In the very true and classical meaning of it.

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

What's the bet that the government would be rendered completely unable to perform its most basic duties?

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[Xentan]

I dated a girl from Romania once. She was the most hardcore libertarian i ever met. She said communism did this to her.

Re:Sounds rawther libertarian to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, I thought the article was on The Onion at first...

Scrounging gyppos

[Hognoxious]

Tax avoidance is legal. It's evasion that isn't.

epic fail

[Anonymous Coward]

Even our government is begging for money.. I don`t think this will work like it does for all our gypsies out there =)

Re:epic fail

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, my feelings just changed from considering the French f*cking xenophobes to thinking they might just be great at ridicule :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1FCUmnV7bQ

not evryone is agreed the holocaust actually exist

[Anonymous Coward]

FUD ! "there is internal resistance on either side" Of course there is internal resitance on either side. Funny how that "internal" resistance is made up almost entirely of ethnic minorities (colonized russians on one side and hungarians on the other side) - who would lose their opportunistic political influence [owed to the fact that those minorities vote on ethnic criteria and Not on political criteria]. read: their are always in the guvernment no matter who wins/loses the elections because whoever wins needs majority of seats thus rendering pluripartitism useless in any practical sense. Please Stop spreading FUD about Romania and Moldova. PS: Russia, please get your illegal occupation troops out of Moldova.

Moldova and Romania

[Charles Dodgeson]

But Moldova should, by every right, be a part of Romania

So by the same logic would you say that Transylvania should be part of Hungary?

I'm sure that you will be able to come up with some contorted rationalization that justifies only the particular border changes that support your national views, but the rest of us would laugh if it weren't so tragic.

Re:Moldova and Romania

[Anonymous Coward]

Facts (according to wikipedia.org) :
  - Transylvania (2002 census) :
      - romanians 75.9%
      - hungarians 19.6% (many of them are known as "szekelly" but they are ethnically indiscernible from hungarians..)
  - Republic of Moldova (2004 census without Transnistria - Transnistria is historically part of the ukrainian Podolia) :
      - romanophones (officially they were classified as "moldovan" or "romanian", but the 2 are ethnically indiscernible) 77.9 %
      - ukrainians 8.35%
      - russians 5.95%
But anyway, Hungary and Romania are now part of the European Union and frontiers don't make sense any more there, so who cares?..
(Btw Moldova aims to integrate the European Union ASAP too)
So Mr. Charles Dodgeson, please don't speak about things you know nothing about
  A romanian proud to be citizen of the European Union

Re:Moldova and Romania

[Anonymous Coward]

But Moldova should, by every right, be a part of Romania

So by the same logic would you say that Transylvania should be part of Hungary?

Well...uncontorted..nope. And I am not the same guy.

Re:Moldova and Romania

[Anonymous Coward]

For better or for worse, the Romanianization of Transylvania is nearly complete – there are relatively few Hungarians still living in Romanian Transylvania (similarly, there are few Romanians living in Hungarian Transylvania). Moldova, on the other hand, despite the Russians' best intentions, is still chock-full of Romanian speakers. Transnistria (or however the Russians spell it) has been Russified, so I would not support reintegrating the strip back into Moldova/Romania.

a new 419...

[Anonymous Coward]

This just screams 419 scams.... I wouldn't be surprised if the money magically disappears... it is Romania after all. A bed full of corruption.