October 08, 2024

No Kids? You'll Pay for That


No Kids? You'll Pay for That
If taxing the childfree worked for the Soviets, why wouldn't it work for Russia now? RussianLife files

The State Duma is considering resurrecting a Soviet-era tax on childless citizens. Russian men and women without children would pay an extra 3% in income taxes, an extra 5% inheritance tax, and 0.5% more in property tax. 

The idea for reintroducing this tax comes from a university study on population growth, with models indicating that this could lead to an increase in births.

A similar tax, on singles and small families, was made law in the USSR in 1941. The state collected 6% of the salary of childless men aged 20 to 50 and childless married women aged 20 to 45. The tax was abolished in 1992. 

Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women, and Children, responded to the tax proposal: "Many people are driven by the desire to postpone having a child only because they do not have the financial means to do so." Whether or not this proposal would reverse Russia's population decline remains to be seen.

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