Tax on childlessness · Lablypedia

Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union a tax on childlessness (Russian: налог на бездетность, romanized: nalog na bezdetnost) was a natalist policy imposed starting in the 1940s. Joseph Stalin's regime created the tax in order to encourage adult people to reproduce, thus increasing the number of people and the population of the Soviet Union. The 6% income tax affected men from the age of 25 to 50, and married women from 20 to 45 years of age. The tax remained in place until the collapse of the Soviet Union, though by the end of the Soviet Union, the amount of money which could be taxed was steadily reduced.

As originally passed and enforced from 1941 to 1990, the tax affected most childless men from 25 to 50 years of age, and most childless married women from 20 to 45 years of age. The tax was 6% of the childless person's wages, but it provided certain exceptions: heroes of the Soviet Union, military personnel who had been awarded three degrees of the Order of Glory, people who could not have children due to medical reasons, and students under 25. Many single men fraudulently escaped the tax by claiming infertility and provided fake medical documentation.

From 1946, the tax was abolished for monks obliged to observe a vow of celibacy in accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 2584 of December 3, 1946:

"Monks and nuns of Orthodox monasteries and monasteries of other faiths, obligated to a vow of celibacy, are not subject to taxation on bachelors, single and small-family citizens of the USSR".

After 1990, the income exemption was increased to 150 rubles, meaning that the first 150 rubles of income for childless adults went untaxed. In 1991, the tax was changed to no longer apply to women, and in 1992, it was rendered irrelevant and inactive due to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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China

In 2018, a childless tax was proposed in China to counter their own birth rate issues.

Germany

In 2018, Germany's Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, called for a childlessness tax, arguing that those without children should pay much more toward care and pension insurance than those who have started a family.

Hungary

In 1953, communist Hungary introduced taxes on childlessness which was payable by men between the ages of 20 and 50 and women between the ages of 20 and 45 who already had an income but did not yet have children. The tax covered 4% of the tax base. The tax was abolished in 1957.

Poland

In 1946, communist Poland introduced a similar increase of the basic income tax rate, in effect a tax on childlessness, popularly called bykowe in Polish ("bull's tax", the "bull" being a metaphor for an unmarried man). First, childless and unmarried people over 21 years of age were affected (from January 1, 1946 until November 29, 1956), then only over 25 years of age (November 30, 1956 until January 1, 1973).

Romania

Taxes on childlessness were part of the natalist policy introduced by Nicolae Ceaușescu in Communist Romania in the period 1967–1989. Along with the outlawing of abortion and contraception (1967) and mandatory gynecological revisions, these taxes were introduced in various forms in 1977 and 1986. Unmarried citizens had to pay penalty for childlessness, the tax income rate being increased by 8–10% for them.

Russia

Russia had a lower fertility rate after the fall of the Soviet Union compared to during the Soviet era, prompting some Russian leaders to propose bringing back the tax on childlessness. According to the Health Ministry, the total fertility rate dropped from 2.19 children/woman to 1.17 children/woman in the aftermath of the Soviet Union. According to the Russian Director of the Center for Demography Anatoliy Vishnevskiy, this birth rate is among the lowest in the world, and Russian leaders have described the demographic issues in Russia as being symptomatic of a "crisis". While the tax on childlessness has not been re-enacted, other proposals have been. For example, Vladimir Putin enacted a proposal to provide cash incentives for women who are willing to have a second child.