Government restrictions in Iceland

A few days ago I wrote a little something about a new law that are being passed in Iceland now - the so-called media law. These soon-to-be-laws will restrict the rights of Icelanders to own and run medias in such a way that today they will only affect a single company which our prime minister has a grudge for. A possitive side-effect of the laws seems to be largely increased interest in libertaria-views in Iceland, which of course benefits my political club very well. However, negative effects are still extreme.

But although many people are just now realizing the dangers in politicians with great needs for control, these dangers have existed since the beginning of government. A few years ago in Iceland, a man was declared guilty of breaking the law when he expressed certain oppionions about black Africans. The Icelandic government invites Chinese communists and mass-murderers to Iceland for talks and throw people in semi-jails when they want to come to the country and protest their abuse on human-rights. Not that a herd of a thousand professional-protestors is good for any city, but as long as no laws are being broken this should not be accepted. Icelanders are banned from talking about tobacco except to warn against its harmful effects.

The income-tax in Iceland (certainly a form of liberty-restriction) is about 39% for the middle-income person and up to 45% for people who happen to earn more than a certain amount per month. No wait - if you can live of interests you get away with 10% tax, and if you can hide your income with a dummy-company you might find a way to pay 18% tax. In short, the government creates huge gaps in the tax-system, tempting people to pull all kinds of stunts to hide their income.

Where am I going with this blog-entry? I have no idea. Ohwell. A little more on Iceland then.

The Icelandic government produces/provides the following things/services/recreation: Sex and the City, lamb-meat, swimming-pools, beer, classical music and theatre of course, besides the tradional health-care and welfare-bureaucracy. The list is much longer but these examples stick out in my head right now. Libertarians want this changed and want to move choices away from the politicians into the hands of people. I hope the new media-law will increase distrust people have in the government and create a wave of inlightenment in the name induviduality, compassion and free enterprise.