cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/44989415

China has made condoms and other contraceptives more expensive as it tries to boost birth rates … Consumers must now pay a 13 percent value-added tax for contraception including condoms, after Beijing removed exemptions on the products from January 1.

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The government has sought to boost China’s flagging birth rate, concerned about the rapidly ageing and shrinking population, as well as record low marriage rates.

But young people in Beijing told AFP that taxing contraceptives will not address the root issues they say are stopping people from having children.

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“The immense pressure on young people in China today — from employment to daily life — has absolutely nothing to do with condoms,” a resident in her thirties, who wanted to be known only as Jessica, told AFP.

Jessica said there was a notable class divide in Chinese society and many people felt their future was too uncertain to start a family.

“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, who read about the new tax online, said she did not believe it would directly increase birth rates.

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China’s leaders, including President Xi Jinping, have pledged to address the country’s demographic problems … But the contraceptives tax is trivial compared to the true cost of raising a child in China, one of the world’s most expensive countries for child-rearing, said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

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They face concrete obstacles in China, Wu added, such as a weak job market, “prohibitive” housing costs, a stressful work culture and workplace discrimination against women.

A 19-year-old student surnamed Du told AFP in Beijing she felt the impact of more expensive contraceptives would be limited.

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“Young people today… worry about whether they can shoulder the responsibilities of being parents,” she said.

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