Spursmál to examine tax plans, labour tensions and interest rates

mbl.is reports that the latest episode of Spursmál will examine the government’s tax measures, labour disputes and the outlook for interest rate cuts. The programme starts at 14:00 and is available to everyone through the player on the site.

Guests include journalist Elísabet Inga Sigurðardóttir and lawyer Hallmundur Albertsson, who will review the week’s news. Sigurðardóttir has faced criticism in anonymous articles by Helgi Magnússon and Ólafur Arnarson on DV; an article they published last week has since been removed from the website. Albertsson represents the interests of the hosts of the Chess after Dark podcast. The Media Commission has challenged them and several other podcast hosts who have not registered their activities as media.

Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chair of the Efling union, will discuss the renewal of collective agreements in the private sector. Earlier this week, the so-called Broad Coalition agreed with SA to extend the agreements until next year. Jónsdóttir has criticised the leadership of VR for waiting until the last moment to confirm the extension. She has also criticised the government’s package of measures, which she says was already in place when the coalition signed the extension, despite suggestions that it followed pressure from VR and allied unions.

Jón Bjarnason, a farmer and head of Hrunamannahreppur municipality, and Bryndís Björnsdóttir, managing director of Laugarás Lagoon, will discuss planned increases in charges on tourism businesses. Bjarnason has criticised a proposed VAT increase on bathing lagoon operations and a nature and infrastructure fee aimed at Þingvellir, Gullfoss and Geysir, stops on the Golden Circle route. Laugarás Lagoon, a bathing lagoon on the banks of the Hvítá river in Biskupstungur, is reassessing plans to build a hotel after the government announced higher taxes on its operations.

The programme will also feature Þórarinn G. Pétursson, deputy governor for monetary policy at the Central Bank of Iceland. The bank’s outlook for possible interest rate cuts in the foreseeable future will be discussed.