Framsókn calculator estimates budget bill’s cost to households

A new calculator launched by Iceland’s Progressive Party estimates how the 2027 budget bill would affect household finances, mbl.is reports. Party leader Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir says the website is intended to make the budget easier for the public to understand and show its impact on individual households.

The website, utreikningur.is, has seven sections, including a calculator that lets users estimate how the budget bill and the removal of interest benefits could affect their household costs.

In an example for a young couple, the calculator estimates an increase of about 342,000 Icelandic krónur a year on top of the household’s existing expenses, or roughly 28,500 krónur a month. It also estimates that about 92,000 krónur would be added to the loan principal.

Alfreðsdóttir said the website took three weeks to build. The budget bill was used as its basis, with around 2,000 variables incorporated into the calculations, she said.

She said the calculator’s examples showed that lower-income families could pay amounts similar to those paid by higher-income families. In her view, the increases would therefore weigh proportionally more heavily on young families with children and debt. Families with several children, particularly those with a child under seven, and people who have recently entered the housing market with little equity, would fare worst, she said.

Alfreðsdóttir encouraged the government to use the website. She said it had received many visits since launching the previous day and described it as the party’s contribution to greater scrutiny and discussion of the country’s finances.