Russia's 'childless tax' resurgent?... "The solution to low birth rate" vs "Don't scare me" controversy

In Russia, which is struggling with a low birth rate, a proposal to revive the former Soviet-era "childless tax" has been proposed, sparking controversy for and against.The introduction of the

'childless tax' was proposed by Andrei Gurulyov, a member of the Russian House of Representatives (National Duma) Defense Committee, on the 4th, and the debate heated up.

Earlier in December last year, Rep. Yevgeny Fedorov said on a radio broadcast that he could think of introducing a tax on children without children, like the Soviet Union, to raise the birth rate.

In the Soviet Union, a 'childless tax' was collected from 1941 to 1992 to promote population growth as the population declined sharply in the aftermath of World War II.

At that time, men aged 20 to 50 and married women aged 20 to 45 paid about 6% of their wages in taxes depending on their income.

According to the Russian Statistical Office last month, the number of births between January and June this year was 599,600, 16,600 fewer than the same period last year, the lowest since 1999.

It also predicted that Russia's total fertility rate will fall to 1.32 at the end of this year.

However, there are also high voices against the resurgence of the 'childless tax'.

"It's a silly idea," Yevgeny Popov, a member of the House of Representatives, said sarcastically, "I don't know about children without children, but I have to introduce a 'fool tax'."

Nina Ostanina, a member of the House Family Protection Committee, also stressed the need for preconditions, saying that when the Soviet Union introduced a "child-free tax," childcare, kindergartens, schools, apartments, and various social security were provided free of charge.

For now, the Kremlin has expressed its view that a "childless tax" is unlikely to be of much help to population growth.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RIA Novosti news agency that "at first glance, a 'childless tax' would not have had any impact on the demographic situation, but experts should analyze past experiences."

In a related development, a bill is being discussed in Russia to ban content that promotes the idea of refusing to give birth to children from being circulated on the media, movies, advertising and the Internet.

The Russian government also said last month that it supports related legislation in principle.