Beijing’s new 13% tax on condoms fails to address core issues like job pressure and housing costs, say young people and analysts
BEIJING: A new tax on contraceptives in China has been met with scepticism by residents and analysts who say it will do little to reverse the country’s declining birth rate.
From January 1, a 13% value-added tax now applies to condoms and other contraceptives, removing a previous exemption, while childcare and marriage brokerage services remain tax-free.
The move is part of broader government efforts to boost China’s flagging birth rate amid concerns over an ageing, shrinking population and record-low marriage rates.
Young people in Beijing told AFP the tax fails to address the fundamental pressures they say deter family planning.
“The immense pressure on young people in China today — from employment to daily life — has absolutely nothing to do with condoms,” said a resident in her thirties who wanted to be known only as Jessica.
Jessica highlighted a notable class divide and widespread uncertainty about the future as key factors.
“The rich are too rich, and the poor remain poor… (and people) lack confidence in their future, so they may be unwilling to have children.”
Xu Wanting, 33, said she did not believe the tax would directly increase birth rates.
“Those who truly need to buy these products will still buy them, because these are family planning products,” Xu told AFP.
“They (condoms) are not solely for contraception, but also concern women’s reproductive health.”
China’s population has declined for three consecutive years, with UN predictions suggesting it could fall from 1.4 billion to 633 million by 2100.
President Xi Jinping and other leaders have pledged to tackle demographic challenges, vowing at a December policy meeting to “advocate positive views on marriage and childbearing”.
Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said the tax is trivial compared to the true cost of raising a child.
“Young couples deciding whether to have children are not calculating whether they can afford extra dollars for contraception — they are asking whether they can afford to raise a child at all,” Wu told AFP.
He cited concrete obstacles like a weak job market, “prohibitive” housing costs, a stressful work culture and workplace discrimination against women.
A 19-year-old student surnamed Du said the tax’s impact would be limited, arguing that companies must first guarantee benefits like maternity leave.
“Young people today… worry about whether they can shoulder the responsibilities of being parents,” she said.
