The Hafnarfjörður Town Council urges the Althingi to lower the insurance levy.
At a meeting of the Hafnarfjörður Town Council today, a petition was submitted to the Althingi to significantly reduce the 2016 insurance levy beyond what was provided for in the draft budget.
At a meeting of the Hafnarfjörður Town Council today, a petition was submitted to the Althingi to significantly reduce the 2016 insurance levy beyond what was provided for in the draft budget.
A memorandum presented at the meetings states that the insurance levy was 5.34% before the crash, but was raised to 7% in 2009, when unemployment stood at 8%. Today the rate is 7.49% and will fall to 7.35% in 2016. Unemployment is currently 3.1%.
Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir, chair of the town council, says that the Borough of Hafnarfjörður will pay about 670 million krónur in insurance premiums in 2015, whereas this amount would have been about 478 million krónur. if the insurance premium were unchanged from before the crash, or a reduction of around 192 m.kr.
„As stated in the memorandum, the state spent around 28 billion króna on the Employment Guarantee Fund at its peak in 2010, when unemployment stood at 8.1%. In the 2016 budget, unemployment benefits are expected to increase by 9.4% year-on-year and the state will allocate around 13.3 billion to the Unemployment Insurance Fund,„ says Rósa.