Tourist Caught Speeding - Speed tickets in Iceland

A tourist was caught speeding 60 kilometers over the limit along Reykjanesbraut, the road to Keflavík International Airport, earlier this week.

The speed limit in the area, and the maximum speed limit in Iceland, is 90 km/hr (55 mph) but the man was driving 150 km/hr (95 mph).

A total of 11 people were caught speeding in the Suðurnes region where Keflavík Airport is located this week, visir.is reports.

The police in Selfoss also stopped a tourist on the mountain pass Hellisheiði, between Reykjavík and Hveragerði, for speeding 168 km/h (105 miles/h) in a 90 km/h zone last monday. The speed limit outside of urban areas in Iceland is generally 90km/h (55miles/h).

The driver was issued a ISK 112,000 (USD 1000, EUR 770) on-the-spot fine. The man will also be banned from driving for three months.

There have been several cases of tourists being booked for driving much faster than the speed limit in recent months.

Speed limits and tickets in Iceland

The general rule is that 90 km/hour is the maximum speed you can drive at outside of towns and villages in Iceland in perfect circumstances on tarmac and without a carriage. On unpaved roads the speed limit is 80 km/hour Nowhere in Iceland are you allowed to drive faster than that. Somewhere the speed limit can be lower if the circumstances call for it such as steep mountain roads or sharp turns. There are usually plenty of signs that tell you the maximum speed so not knowing is really not an excuse.

The table below tells you how the speeding ticket system in Iceland is built up. The yellow line represent the speed limit on any given road and the pink line represent the actual speed the driver is caught driving at. The numbers in the other boxes represent the fine in thousands (ISK) + the months the license is suspended. We don’t know if the Icelandic police has jurisdiction to suspend foreign licenses but they can and will give out tickets.

How do you get a ticket?

As you may have noticed if you have driven around Iceland there are not a lot of police around. There are plenty of speed cameras though and even thought there are big signs that tell you that they are there, somehow people don’t slow down and end up getting a ticket.

Also, even though there are not a lot of police around they do lurk around and show up when you least expect it. Certain counties are notorious for very efficient speed control and the police knows exactly where to hide so you won’t figure out they are there until it’s too late.

We’ve also heard, and we don’t know if this is true or not, that they just love to bust tourists in rental cars.

But nobody told me I got a ticket when I dropped off my rental car, that must mean I’m in the clear, right?

Wrong. It always takes the authorities some time to process the ticket and then it takes the car rental agency time to put two and two together and figure out who was driving the car when the ticket was issued. What’s more, some car rental agencies will charge you a processing charge on top of the actual ticket.

Soure: Icelandreview
Iceland24, October 2014

Treasury Budget proposal in Iceland 2014

The Treasury Budget proposal for 2014 provides balanced Treasury operations for the first time since 2007. Stopping debt accumulation and achieving balanced public sector finances are the foundations of resilience.

The key objective of the budget proposal is to ensure improved living conditions for the people of Iceland. Real disposable income will rise by 0.3% in 2014 as a result of lower taxes. In addition, pensioners will benefit from increased social security system expenditures.

Over the next three years, the payroll tax will decline by 0.34 percentage points, providing firms with relief in the amount of ISK 3.8 bn by the time the changes have been implemented in full. In the long run, the payroll tax reduction will be of benefit to wage earners and will stimulate investment in the Icelandic economy.

The main element of fiscal policy is to reduce government debt, thereby reducing interest expense. The outlook is for a fiscal deficit of ISK 31.1 bn this year. This is substantially in excess of the estimate for 2013, which assumed a deficit of ISK 3.7 bn.

In the absence of targeted action, the fiscal deficit would have totalled some ISK 27 bn in 2014. Government expenditure will be reduced as a share of GDP through broad-based streamlining measures, decisions to abandon various recent projects undertaken by the previous government, and measures to cut interest expense.

Operating performance will also be improved through revenue-generating measures – in particular, the bank tax, which will be increased and will be imposed for the first time on financial undertakings in winding-up proceedings. Payments made by firms in winding-up proceedings will total an estimated ISK 11.3 bn in 2014, and total payments will amount to ISK 14.2 bn. This provides some scope for changes in focus, in line with the new government's policy.

Increased support for pensioners and safeguarding of children's benefits and interest cost rebates

• The budget proposal provides for ISK 5 bn in increased disbursements to recipients of old age and disability pensions and to social assistance programmes, due to various changes in these pensioners' entitlements. 
• Social security system disbursements will increase by an additional ISK 3.4 bn next year because of an increased number of benefit recipients and indexation of benefits. Spending in this category will therefore rise by a total of ISK 8.4 bn. 
• The increase in interest cost rebates for low-income homebuyers, which was due to expire at the end of the year, will be extended. 
• The recent increase in children's benefits is protected, in line with the government's policy of supporting families with children. Children's benefits rose by 24% in the 2013 Treasury Budget. Total expenditures for children's benefits are estimated at ISK 10.2 bn in 2014, as opposed to just under ISK 7.5 bn in 2012.

First steps away from increased taxation on individuals and companies 

• The tax rate in the middle income tax bracket will be reduced by 0.8%, bringing it closer to the lowest bracket.
• The combined percentage of employers' payroll tax and Wage Guarantee Fund contributions will decline by 0.1 percentage points. It will be cut by an additional 0.1% in 2015 and another 0.14% in 2016. 
• The tax-free threshold for financial income tax on individuals' interest income will be raised by 25%, from ISK 100,000 to ISK 125,000. 
• Value-added tax on disposable paper diapers will be reduced from the general rate of 25.5% to the lowest rate, 7.0%.

Further measures to assist households 

• The ceiling for maternity/paternity payments leave will be raised to ISK 370,000, but plans to lengthen maternity/paternity leave will be abandoned. 
• The “Allir Vinna” programme providing for reimbursement of value-added tax on labour related to construction and renovation of residential, vacation, and municipality-owned housing, which was due to expire at year-end 2013, will be extended. 
• The tax-free threshold for children's income will be raised from ISK 104,745 to ISK 180,000.
• Stamp fees on loan documents will be cancelled.

Contributions to various investment projects 

• Norðfjarðargöng tunnel 
• Bakki investment in infrastructure and road construction 
• Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel 
• Prison construction at Hólmsheiði
• General transport construction projects

Source: Ministry of Finance

Iceland24, October 2013

New 10000 ISK Icelandic banknote out today!

The Central Bank of Iceland introduced a new ten thousand krónur banknote today. The face of natural scientist and poet Jónas Hallgrímsson appears on the bill, as well as the Eurasian golden plover. Hallgrímsson was interested in the plover and mentioned her in some of his poems.

Photo by Kristinn Ingvarsson

The new banknote will go into circulation in late October this year. It has 4 zeros, but the banknote with the most zeros in history is the Zimbabwe 100 Trillion Dollars bill, issued in 2009, with 14 zeros.

The new 10.000 ISK banknote was designed by Kristín Þorkelsdóttir, who also designed Iceland’s other denominations. The blue note measures 172 x 70 mm, and is protected by the following security features: a watermark of Jon Sigurdsson with electrotype 10.000 and Cornerstones, 18-mm wide Optiks security thread, UV printing, intaglio printing, microprinting, and raised horizontal bars to assist the sight-impaired.

In 1981, the Icelandic króna was revalued, due to hyperinflation, with 100 old krónur being worth 1 new króna. Had that not been done, we would now be looking at a 1.000.000 ISK banknote.

This makes the first time since 1986 - when the 5,000 ISK bill was first pressed - that a new Icelandic bill was put into circulation. Whether or not most people will ever hold a 10,000 ISK bill themselves remains to be seen.

Source: Goiceland.is
Iceland24, September 2013