Tax benefits to increase birthrate

On Tuesday, China’s State Council approved measures to increase the birth rate. These measures include an amendment to individual income tax law. In the future, parents will be able to deduct childcare expenses for children under the age of three from their taxes, according to the business portal Caixin. Accordingly, the central government wants to spend more financial resources on affordable daycare. State-owned enterprises are to be encouraged to participate in improving childcare. Local governments are to assist parents of minors in renting public housing and buying homes. Whether these measures will bear fruit is unclear. Cai Fang, a demographer, and economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, recently said, “The decline in the birth rate is basically an irreversible long-term trend. “