China taxes contraceptives to boost births

Childcare, marriage services exempt amid population decline

- Gulf News Report

People in China will begin paying a 13 per cent sales tax on contraceptives from January 1, while childcare services will be exempt, as Beijing steps up efforts to boost falling birth rates, the BBC reported.

The change follows an overhaul of China’s tax system announced late last year, which removed several exemptions that had been in place since 1994 when the country was still enforcing its decades-long one-child policy.