Cannot discuss the budget without discussing increased charges on the rich

Statement from socialists in the city council regarding budget preparation for the year 2019:

Budget formulation is currently underway in all committees of Reykjavíkurborg. The budget is based on a framework plan and it is assumed that all expenditure items fit within it. Representatives in the city's committees are expected to adapt their proposals to this framework; if they want to increase contributions to a specific issue, they must propose cuts to another issue. WE REJECT THIS COMPLETELY! We do not accept working on a budget when the most important political issues have been cut off and within a framework based on the legacy of neoliberalism. It is not possible to sit down to discuss the city's budget without first asking: where are the contributions from companies and the rich? A few years ago, the facility fee for companies was abolished. They no longer pay for the infrastructure their operations rely on. Why don't companies pay for childcare? Isn't childcare precisely a prerequisite for employees to come to work? How is it that the wealthiest people in Reykjavík pay not a single króna in municipal income tax and contribute nothing to the city's operations? The wealthiest people, 0.1% of those who have amassed the most wealth in recent decades, derive all their income from capital but pay no municipal income tax on that income. Here, only two examples have been given of how municipal revenue systems were damaged during the neoliberal era so that the rich could avoid paying to society. This is the elephant in the room. The reason Reykjavíkurborg has failed families affected by the housing crisis, the reason the city pays its staff shamefully low wages, and the reason the city fails vulnerable groups regarding essential services is that the city has already transferred exorbitant amounts to the rich by not collecting obvious taxes from them. The power to levy taxes and charges on the rich does not lie entirely with Reykjavíkurborg, but it is absurd to sit down and discuss the budget without first discussing the enormous financial allocations to the wealthiest people in the form of abolished municipal income tax and charges on their income. By submitting to a framework plan, we would be accepting this injustice, that the rich can avoid paying to society and have shifted all burdens of Reykjavíkurborg's operations onto wage earners and the general public. We therefore refuse that the prerequisite for increasing public services is to cut public services. We want to start by discussing how to levy charges on the capital income of the rich and a fair reimbursement from companies for the services and facilities the city provides them.

Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir city councilorDaníel Örn Arnarsson deputy city councilor