A young Romanian who run as independent for the European Parliament but failed to get a seat, and who is known for his unconventional ways of raising awareness, now wants to push community work as an alternative to paying taxes.

Erwin Albu, a 33-year old from Codlea in Central Romania, has asked the City Hall in his town to allot him community work hours, as he refused to pay taxes. He believes local elected officials will continue to steal the money people pay in taxes. He managed to get his way in court, after the local authorities went to court against the Romanian who stopped paying his taxes in 2013, when he went on a 'fiscal strike'. A judge decided to convert his due taxes in community work hours, and the city hall now has to ‘cash in’.

Erwin was happy with the result of the legal battle, and looks forward to sweeping the streets, or doing anything else the community requires, pending the City Hall request.

He had one complaint though: the way the court converted his due taxes into working hours. “I have accumulated several hundred of working hours, genuinely useful to the community, although judges had a weird, uneven algorithm to turn debt into work hours. They’ve converted small amounts into more hours, and big amounts into fewer hours, as they wished,” says Erwin.

Romanian independent candidate for the European Parliament elections opens office in barn

Independent Romanian candidate to European Parliament hitchhikes to Brussels with a bag full of questions for EU politicians

editor@romania-insider.com