Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.12.2014, Side 10

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Food and
Fun!
With that, Hanna Birna less-than-
gracefully exits the political scene,
at least until 2015. Her former assistant,
Gísli Freyr Valdórsson, was asked to
exit the political scene as well, although
through a different door. On November
12, Gísli was given an eight-month sus-
pended prison sentence, after admitting
to leaking the Tony Omos’ document.
His intention, he has admitted, was, in
fact, to influence media coverage.
With all of this political groping, it
should probably come as no sur-
prise that Icelanders’ trust in media is
decreasing, according to a report by
RÚV. And you can take their word for it,
since RÚV came out on top as the most
trustworthy news source in Iceland
(good thing we don’t count as “media”).
Despite their overall win, RÚV reports
a decrease in public confidence along
with every other media source surveyed,
except for newspaper DV. Ironically,
DV was recently acquired by the same
publishing company that runs websites
Pressan and Eyjan, the second-to-last
and least-trusted news outlets included
in the survey.
The report nicely complements re-
cent outcries from the International
Press Institute and Reporters Without
Borders (in the same way ugly shoes
complement an even uglier dress),
which condemned Iceland’s actions re-
garding press freedom. Among matters
of concern was Interior Minister assis-
tant Þórey Vilhjálmsdóttir’s seeking of
the maximum possible libel penalty for
two DV journalists who misidentified
her in the abovementioned Tony Omos
document leak. Furthermore, the Inte-
rior Ministry has enacted a new rule re-
quiring journalists to apply for individual
permission through the Ministry’s social
relations manager in order to get access
to its staff. But, like we said, this convo-
luted mingling of press and politics is no
news. It is, in a twisted way, just part of
the tradition.
Kind of like the Oslo Christmas tree.
And as demonstrated by the Oslo
tree scare, we don’t mess around when
it comes to tradition. Especially during
the holidays. Which is why—in the tra-
dition of Nordic countries sending each
other trees—Iceland has generously gift-
ed a tree of our own to the Faroe Islands.
What goes around comes around, they
say. So with that, let the P2 flow. We’ll
see you in the New Year.
Opinion | Politics
10
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 18 — 2014
Trampling hordes
But while the growing number of for-
eign visitors has helped fuel economic
growth, the hordes of visitors pose
problems of their own. Virtually every
popular tourist destination in Iceland
is under serious stress, as irreparable
damage is being done by trampling
tourists.
The problem is that neither the Ice-
landic tourism industry nor the author-
ities have responded in any meaningful
way to the unprecedented growth in
foreign visitors. As the number of tour-
ists grows, so does the need for decent
walking paths, more and better parking
spots, and basic public facilities by pop-
ular spots—along with instructions and
staff to both ensure visitors’ safety and
ensure that they don’t cause damage to
fragile natural formations through ig-
norance or inexperience.
But all of that costs money.
Who should pay?
The left-wing government, which left
office in 2013, had proposed a small tax
on every night stayed at hotels and hos-
tels, but the plan was opposed by some
industry lobbyists, and the incoming
right-wing government scuttled the
surcharge.
Now, the minister of Industry and
Commerce, Ragnheiður Elín Árnadót-
tir, member of the conservative Inde-
pendence Party, has revealed how the
government plans to solve the problem.
On November 28, the cabinet approved
her plan to have everyone who wishes
to enjoy Icelandic nature purchase a
special permit, a “nature pass,” which
will set you back 1,500 ISK (or €10) for
unfettered three-year access to Icelan-
dic nature.
Everyone who wants to travel
around the island, enjoying the sights
and taking in the natural beauty, is sup-
posed to purchase such a pass. Iceland-
ers, as well as tourists. In essence it is a
tax on enjoying natural beauty.
A laughable tax
The response to the proposed “nature
pass” has been uniformly negative.
Environmentalists, nature lovers and
bloggers all denounced the plans, and
Icelanders took to social media to de-
clare it the stupidest idea yet to surface
from our current government, vowing
they would never pay a tax, no matter
how small, to travel in their own coun-
try or to enjoy its beauty.
As Stefán Ólafsson, professor at
the University of Iceland and a prolific
blogger, noted, the enforcement would
be an administrative nightmare, re-
quiring a small army of “pass inspec-
tors” milling around the countryside,
checking people’s papers. The plan, he
concluded, was simply “laughable.”
In his weekly Fréttablaðið news-
paper column, novelist Guðmundur
Andri Thorsson criticized the passport
as a tax on people’s feelings and experi-
ence of nature, while Left-Green chair
Katrín Jakobsdóttir pointed out it es-
sentially eliminated people’s right to
travel freely in their own country—a
right dating back to the Viking com-
monwealth and the legal code of
Grágás.
A plan nobody likes…
The Icelandic Tourist Industry Asso-
ciation has also rejected the idea, point-
ing out that the pass is inefficient, that
its implementation will be both diffi-
cult and costly, and that it will no doubt
have a significantly negative effect on
tourists’ experience of Iceland.
Instead, the association encour-
ages the government to adopt the plan
proposed by the previous government:
a one-Euro fee, levied on every night
stayed at a hotel or hostel, would be
simpler to administer and would be far
less disruptive to visitors.
… because it is truly
terrible!
The idea of purchasing a permit to en-
joy the beauty of nature and the majesty
of the view is so breathtakingly stupid it
is difficult to figure out how the Minis-
ter of Industry and Innovation came up
with it. How would it be implemented?
Obviously, it would require an army
of “inspectors,” as Stefán Ólafsson
points out, but how, in practice, are they
going to enforce the law? Will they per-
form spot-checks on tourists around
the country? And how will they deter-
mine who is a tourist enjoying the view
and who is a local resident just travel-
ling to and from work?
The worst kind of tax
imaginable
And how will they deal with suspected
violators? Presumably, the low price of
the pass will entice foreigners to pay,
just to avoid a potential hassle. But we
can expect large numbers of locals will
refuse to pay, on principle. Will the
passport-wardens be deputized, so they
can arrest people looking at lava fields
without the required permit? And what
kind of appeals process can we expect
to see? A special panorama-court,
where people can try and prove they
weren’t actually enjoying nature that
much, and thus need pay no tax?
There is simply no way the tax can
be implemented in a manner which will
be both cost-efficient and seen by Ice-
landers as just and fair. To foreign visi-
tors, its enforcement will most likely
appear either arbitrary or annoying.
The Stupidest
Tax In History
Words by Magnús Sveinn Helgason
Photo by Axel Sigurðarson
According to official estimates, the number of foreign tour-
ists in Iceland will top the one million mark for the first
time in history by the end of the year. Which means it will
have more than tripled over the course of last decade: in
2003, some 300,000 foreigners visited Iceland.
NEWS
IN
BRIEF