China introduces Condom tax, cut childcare costs in move to boost birth rates

China introduces Condom tax, cut childcare costs in move to boost birth rates

The chinese government has reportedly introduced a 13% income tax on contraceptives from 1 January, while exempting childcare offerings, in a bid to deal with its declining beginning costs.

in line with BBC news, professional figures show China’s populace has reduced in size for the third yr in a row, with just 9.fifty four million toddlers born in 2024, more or less 1/2 the wide variety recorded a decade in the past.

From January 1, contraceptives that were exempt from fee-delivered tax (VAT) for over three a long time at the moment are problem to a 13% levy. The exemption dated back to 1994, while China was once firmly enforcing its one-child policy.

The revised shape, announced in overdue 2025, eliminates those legacy concessions even as extending VAT comfort to childcare offerings, aged care, and marriage-related expenses.

alongside tax changes, government additionally rolled out measures along with longer parental depart and coins handouts.

but the selection to tax contraceptives has sparked large debate – and mock on-line.

Daniel Luo, 36, who has one baby and has no plans to have extra, doesn’t accept as true with raising tax on contraceptives will lead to more infants.

‘It’s like whilst subway fares growth. after they cross up by using a yuan or two, folks that take the subway don’t alternate their behavior. you still need to take the subway, right?’ the 36-year-vintage, who lives inside the japanese province of Henan, instructed the BBC.

Others, meanwhile, fear the tax should have unintended consequences.

Rosy Zhao, who lives within the central metropolis of Xi’an, warned that making contraception more luxurious should push college students or human beings suffering financially to take risks.

She said this may be ‘the policy’s most dangerous capability final results’.

a few professionals question whether boosting delivery charges is the real reason behind the tax advent.

Demographer Yi Fuxian suggests the government is instead looking to boost sales because it grapples with rising debt and a property downturn.