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July 21, 2021

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Tax incentives offered to boost birth rate

CHINA will allow tax deductions for expenses on children under 3 as part of a major relaxation in child-bearing policy to stem a decline in births in the world’s most populous country, an official document showed yesterday.

China announced on May 31 that it would permit married couples to have up to three children, rather than just two. It scrapped a decades-old one-child policy in 2016 in favor of a two-child limit to try and stave off risks to its economy from a rapidly aging population. But many couple are concerned about the high cost of raising children.

The policy document, adopted by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council in June and released by Xinhua news agency yesterday, spelled out specific supporting measures to implement the three-child policy.

Parents who have a third child will no longer have to pay a fine, nor face punishment by their work units. The third child will no longer face restrictions in getting a household registration permit, known as hukou, or a place in schools.

China will revise the law on population and family planning to legitimize the three-child policy.

Further, expenses incurred in taking care of children below the age of 3 will be tax-deductible. Local governments should take “due care” of parents with minors applying to rent public flats, according to the paper.

China will also standardize and regulate the use of assisted reproductive technology, it said. In order to enhance the level of prenatal and postnatal care services, the country will strengthen planning and exercise strict assessment for approval of the technology, so as to build a service system of human-assisted reproductive technology with balanced supply and demand, as well as rational arrangements, the decision noted.

It also highlighted the importance of preventing birth defects by ensuring the health of pregnant, lying-in women and children in the meantime.

The country will continue to implement its current reward and assistance system and preferential policies for families with only one child and rural families with only two daughters, born before the two-child policy. Efforts will also be made to explore setting up a leave system for children from one-child families to care for their parents

It is of great significance to implement the three-child birth policy and supporting measures in China to further adapt to the new changes in the population structure and the requirements for high-quality development, according to the decision.

The three-child policy and supporting measures, according to the decision, will help maintain China’s advantage of human resources in the face of the world’s profound shifts unseen in a century.

They will also help alleviate the downward trend of China’s overall birth rate to maintain an appropriate fertility rate and consolidate the achievement of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, says the decision.


 

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