The highest three-child subsidy is in the Donghu High-tech Zone in Wuhan, Hubei Province, which provides an annual cash subsidy of 10,000 yuan for three children born in the Donghu High-tech Zone after 2023 until the child reaches the age of 6. This means that if the relevant conditions are met, the maximum subsidy of 60,000 yuan can be given to give birth to three children in Wuhan Donghu High-tech Zone.
Reporter 丨Fang Binnan, Cheng Liang
Favorable for childbirth, parenting and maintenance, the three special additional deductions for individual taxes have arrived. On August 31, the State Council issued the Notice on Raising the Special Additional Deduction Standards for Individual Income Tax (hereinafter referred to as the "Circular"). The Notice clarifies that from January 1, 2023, the special additional deduction standard for infant care, children's education, and support for the elderly under the age of 3 will be increased by 1,000 yuan each.
In fact, this is another measure at the national level to further reduce the burden of fertility, parenting and maintenance, giving "real money". Since the implementation of the "two children alone" birth policy in 2013, the central government and local governments, as well as many employers, have begun to promote a series of policies to support childbirth. In 2021, the policy that a couple can have three children and supporting birth support measures have also been implemented. As the most direct and frequent measure in the incentive policy, is "sending money" the best way to encourage childbirth? What are the keys and difficulties in encouraging fertility?
Special additional deduction standard
Specifically, the Notice proposes that the special additional deduction standard for the care of infants under the age of 3 will be increased from 1,000 yuan per month to 2,000 yuan per infant; The special additional deduction standard for children's education will be increased from 1,000 yuan per month to 2,000 yuan per child; The special additional deduction standard for supporting the elderly has been raised from 2,000 yuan per month to 3,000 yuan, of which the only child shall be deducted according to the standard fixed amount of 3,000 yuan per month, and the non-only child and siblings will share the deduction amount of 3,000 yuan per month, and the amount of each person shall not exceed 1,500 yuan per month.
The relevant person in charge of the Department of Tax Administration of the Ministry of Finance and the Income Tax Department of the State Administration of Taxation said, "In recent years, there have been many calls to further reduce the burden of childbirth, parenting and maintenance. The three special additional deductions for infant care, children's education, and support for the elderly under the age of 3 are directly related to 'one old and one small', and raising the relevant special additional deduction standards is conducive to further reducing the burden of family support and support, better protecting and improving people's livelihood, and also helping to improve residents' willingness and ability to consume."
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily noted that since the implementation of the "two children alone" birth policy in 2013, from the central government to the local government, as well as many employers, have begun to promote a series of policies to support childbirth. In 2021, the Decision on Optimizing Fertility Policies to Promote Long-term Balanced Population Development was officially announced, and the policy that a couple can have three children and supporting birth support measures began to be implemented.
Since the beginning of this year, Shandong, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Henan, Yunnan and other places have successively introduced a series of measures, including the issuance of maternity allowances and childcare subsidies, and strengthening housing security support.
From the current subsidy, the highest three-child subsidy is in Wuhan Donghu High-tech Zone, Hubei Province. According to the "Implementation Plan for Subsidies for Childcare High-tech Zones for Giving Three Children According to Policy", cash subsidies of 10,000 yuan per year will be given to three children born in Donghu High-tech Zone after 2023 until the child reaches the age of 6. This means that if the relevant conditions are met, the maximum subsidy of 60,000 yuan can be given to give birth to three children in Wuhan Donghu High-tech Zone.
In addition, some cities also subsidize the purchase of houses by multi-child families and superimpose housing preference policies. For example, in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, the "two-child" family subsidized 20,000 yuan for the purchase of a house, and the "three-child" family subsidized 30,000 yuan; Kunming, Yunnan Province, provides a maximum subsidy of 30,000 yuan for "two-child and three-child" families who buy newly built commercial housing. Where Beijing applies for public rental housing for families with a large number of minor children, it may be included in the scope of priority rent allocation; Changsha has added one set of house purchase targets for local households with two or more children.
Government and enterprise initiatives continue to take place
In addition to governments at all levels, many enterprises have also joined the team to encourage childbirth.
On August 31, Qunar announced that from September 1, it will set up a maternity subsidy benefit for employees - "Camel Second Generation Growth Gift Fund". Specifically, all regular employees with three years or more of the age of the company who have newly born children on or after September 1, 2023 will receive a growth gift of RMB 10,000 on their birthdays from the age of 1 to the 5th birthday.
Previously, on June 30, Ctrip Group just announced the launch of a maternity subsidy policy for global employees - "Cheng 2nd Generation Cheng Long Gift Money", that is, starting from July 1, 2023, global employees who have been employed for three years, regardless of gender, will receive an annual cash subsidy of 10,000 yuan for each new child, which will be terminated after the child reaches the age of 5. According to preliminary estimates, Ctrip plans to invest 1 billion yuan in birth subsidies in the future to encourage employees to give birth.
According to public information, on December 30, 2021, the Internet company Kuaishou issued an internal letter announcing the adjustment of employee benefits and the addition of birth bonuses, which are 1,000 yuan, 2,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan respectively.
In January 2022, Dabeinong, a listed agricultural and animal husbandry company, announced that it would reward childbirth within the company, and employees would be awarded 30,000 yuan for the first child, 60,000 yuan for the second child, and 90,000 yuan for the third child. Based on this calculation, a "three-child" family can receive a reward of 180,000 yuan from the company. In terms of maternity leave, the national standard is added 1 month for the first child, 3 months for the second child, and 12 months for the third child.
According to public reports, Greentown Group, Qiaoyin Shares, Far East Holdings, Nestlé Greater China and other enterprises have also clearly announced policies to encourage childbirth, and relevant measures focus on cash subsidies for childbearing employees and extending maternity leave.
In this regard, Li Chengdong, founder of Dolphin Club and e-commerce strategic analyst, said that enterprises have contributed to encouraging fertility, not only in response to national policies, but also showing that the sense of corporate social responsibility is strengthening. But this is also linked to the profitability of the company itself, and it needs to have the financial space to bear this part of the expenditure.
The causes of low fertility are diverse
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2022, the annual birth population of the mainland will be 9.56 million, lower than the 10.41 million deaths, and the natural population growth rate will be -0.6, showing the first negative growth since 1962. It is worth noting that this is also the first time since 1950 that the annual birth population has fallen below 10 million, and the number of births in China has fallen for six consecutive years from 2017 to 2022.
Behind the negative population growth is the low fertility rate. Song Jian, a professor at the Population and Development Research Center of Chinese Minmin University, once told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that China is currently facing a negative growth dominated by fertility, compared with a negative growth dominated by death, the current population situation is more complex and more difficult to solve.
The impact of chronically low fertility is multifaceted and severe. Bai Wenxi, chief economist of IPG China, told Beijing Business Daily that "low fertility will bring a series of socio-economic forms and modes of operation, including aging population, labor shortages, increased pressure on social security sustainability, slowing economic growth, and even the overall decline of society in some regions."
Song Jian believes that among the people of childbearing age, affected by the prevailing individualist concept of the times and external pressures such as employment and buying a house, the fertility subjects of the younger generation - the "post-90s" and "post-00s" have the lowest willingness to have children, which will have a greater impact on the reduction of the natural growth rate of the population than the "post-70s" and post-80s who are about to withdraw from the fertility process and the relatively positive outlook on fertility.
Some population experts directly pointed out that in order to "have two children" and "three children" and "make up for it", it is necessary to make young people willing to give birth to "one child" at the appropriate age and improve people's happiness of giving birth to "one child".
Direct money is the most efficient
"Now young people's conception of fertility has changed a lot. The high cost of childbirth is actually a high comprehensive burden, not only the financial burden, but also the impact of childbirth and parenting on the original free life, and they are more indifferent to traditional concepts such as raising children and preventing aging. Therefore, the problem of 'one child' is difficult, but if the willingness of 'one child' is improved, the overall situation will be greatly improved. Li Chengdong said.
Improving the willingness of "one child" or even "two children" and "three children" is not a short-term effort, and many experts believe that longer-term and more comprehensive measures are needed, including improving the reproductive environment, reducing economic pressure, providing better medical and educational services, and cultivating a stronger sense of family in the social atmosphere.
However, from the perspective of most current policies to encourage childbirth, compared with more complete welfare, financial subsidies, that is, direct payment of money, are still the most important measures. In this regard, Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International Business School, said that many developed countries often encourage childbirth not only to give money, but also to welfare, but the cost of establishing a socialized upbringing system is very high and the efficiency is very low. Therefore, compared with socialized parenting programs, the advantage of direct payment of money lies in efficiency.
"Some people emphasize that by improving social welfare to encourage childbirth, such as free medical care, free schooling, free production, these measures are indeed fundamentally solved the worries of child rearing, but lack of stronger incentives, if the population growth, can not only reduce costs, but to arouse the initiative of fertility. Direct payment is the lowest cost and most direct way to motivate fertility, and this reward can be converted into fertility income in the future. Pan and Lin said.
Editor丨Lin Qin
Picture丨Beijing Business Daily, Visual China, OneImage