The differences between the five centrist and left wing parties, currently involved in negotiations on forming a new coalition government, are not too great for an agreement, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, the leader of the Pirate Party tells the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV. Óttarr Proppé, former punk rocker and chairman of the centrist Bright Future, also told RÚV that the negotiations are going well, and that no major disagreements had yet come up.
Read more: Left-green movement heads negotiations to form new center-left government
The formation of a five-party coalition government would be historic. It would be the first coalition government made up of five party. The five parties encompass the entire center and left of Icelandic politics, leaving only the conservative Independence party and the center-right Progress party in the minority.
Pundits who spoke to the local newspaper Fréttablaðið believe the parties will likely find it hardest to agree on taxes and changes to the system of transferrable quotas. The Left-green movement has stressed the need to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy, while the centrist liberal party Restoration and Bright future have been weary when it comes to raising taxes.
Disagreement on new high-income tax brackets
The former chairman of the Left-green movement, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon told the local news site visir.is that the Left-greens were not aiming at massive tax-hikes. During the election campaign the Left-greens campaigned against the use of tax-havens, tax avoidance by big corporations and for a distribution of the burden of taxation.
One of the leaders of Restoration, Þorsteinn Víglundsson, former chairman of Business Iceland, said in an interview with the local radio station Bylgjan that the party was opposed to ideas floated by the Left greens to raise taxes on anyone making more than 1 million ISK a month (105,000 USD/100,000 EUR annually). „We must be careful when we define what constitutes high wages in Iceland, and where we create new high-income tax brackets“.
The differences between the five centrist and left wing parties, currently involved in negotiations on forming a new coalition government, are not too great for an agreement, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, the leader of the Pirate Party tells the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV. Óttarr Proppé, former punk rocker and chairman of the centrist Bright Future, also told RÚV that the negotiations are going well, and that no major disagreements had yet come up.
Read more: Left-green movement heads negotiations to form new center-left government
The formation of a five-party coalition government would be historic. It would be the first coalition government made up of five party. The five parties encompass the entire center and left of Icelandic politics, leaving only the conservative Independence party and the center-right Progress party in the minority.
Pundits who spoke to the local newspaper Fréttablaðið believe the parties will likely find it hardest to agree on taxes and changes to the system of transferrable quotas. The Left-green movement has stressed the need to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy, while the centrist liberal party Restoration and Bright future have been weary when it comes to raising taxes.
Disagreement on new high-income tax brackets
The former chairman of the Left-green movement, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon told the local news site visir.is that the Left-greens were not aiming at massive tax-hikes. During the election campaign the Left-greens campaigned against the use of tax-havens, tax avoidance by big corporations and for a distribution of the burden of taxation.
One of the leaders of Restoration, Þorsteinn Víglundsson, former chairman of Business Iceland, said in an interview with the local radio station Bylgjan that the party was opposed to ideas floated by the Left greens to raise taxes on anyone making more than 1 million ISK a month (105,000 USD/100,000 EUR annually). „We must be careful when we define what constitutes high wages in Iceland, and where we create new high-income tax brackets“.
