Thai editorial: Tax scheme alone can't spur the birth rate

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
Tax scheme alone can't spur the birth rate
The Nation

Parents will need more comprehensive assistance from the govt to counter the adverse effects of a greying society

BANGKOK: -- The more children you have, the more likely you'll be poor: That was the grim slogan of a national birth-control campaign more than four decades ago.

It was dire, but it was also accurate, and it remains accurate today. In the years since, the cost of rearing, educating and keeping a child healthy has steadily risen. It's the embarrassing, albeit practical, reason why many married couples forego parenthood.

The result is that Thailand, like many other countries, has witnessed a sharp drop in the birth rate, and thus the proportion of seniors in its population is swelling. We are rapidly turning into an aged society. By 2030 one in four citizens will be 60 or above.

We can take pride in successfully slowing population growth in an overcrowded world - from more than a million births a year to 760,000 as of 2010, projected to fall below 700,000 within two decades - but we've never effectively addressed the consequences of that drastic reduction.

Warranting a measure of optimism is the Finance Ministry's proposed tax adjustments to encourage parents to have babies. The Revenue Department plans to increase the tax allowance for children starting in 2017 as a way of offsetting current demographic shifts. It is too early to say whether the notion will alter the situation, but the fact that the government has begun looking for solutions is an encouraging sign.

As it stands, the personal-tax structure - like many other policies instituted during the baby-boom years - offers parents no genuine benefit.

The tax allowance of Bt15,000 to Bt17,000 a year for children is a drop in the ocean compared to costs, and it has remained unchanged for years.

The Revenue Department is mulling the idea of doubling that to Bt30,000, surely a boon to struggling households but still a long way from covering actual expenses. And, again, there is no guarantee the move would help increase the birth rate.

Another measure being considered is extending the tax allowance to cover any number of children. Currently the maximum allowance is for three children. The idea is, again, to encourage couples to have more children, but it's unrealistic given that the average family had just 1.6 per offspring in 2012, and that figure has been declining since. Few couples today want to have more than three children.

You have to go back 40 or 50 years to find Thai families averaging six children.

So this concept is highly unlikely to have an impact.

Most urban couples in particular these days are sticking to one child, since even the expenditures facing a single-child family represent a daunting burden. The government must come up with fresh, comprehensive plans to support parents, beginning - as is surely obvious - in the areas of education and healthcare.

It must keep in mind the quality of family life rather than just measuring need in quantity. This is the long-term future of the country we are dealing with, and tax adjustments, however well- intended and marginally helpful, are an inadequate response to an increasingly urgent problem.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Tax-scheme-alone-cant-spur-the-birth-rate-30263450.html


-- The Nation 2015-07-01

[masuk]

How does the birth rate compare to the Deaths on Motor bikes of mainly teens?

Then look at other avoidable deaths of children, such as drowning due to poor safety awareness or electrocution due to poor standards.

All three of these are reducible with a bit of forethought, legislation and education.

All it takes is a willingness to learn from other countries who have experienced these problems, and to do something about it.

[godden]

Send for me.

[Ulic]

There are quite enough people on the planet without bringing in a tax benefit

program to encourage large families in Thailand.

[DP25]

90%+ of Thai people do not pay income tax. Additional income tax benefits, while nice for those it applies to, will not increase the overall birth rate by any significant amount, because it will not help the vast majority of the population.

[BuaBS]

So the rich are encouraged to have more kids ? Well at least they will have the potential to a better life.

[DP25]

How does the birth rate compare to the Deaths on Motor bikes of mainly teens?

The birth rate is far below replacement level, even before deaths from motorbikes and other accidents. Even if not a single teenager died, the number of children being born is not enough to replace their parents once they die. The Thai population is going to decrease significantly in the future, unless there is immigration or Thai people start having more children

[halloween]

Easily fixed in a military dictatorship. Use article 44 to order every woman between 15 and 50 to have daily intercourse with date-stamped video evidence or at least 2 witnesses.

Oh, and put the death penalty on oral and anal intercourse.

SATIRE

[h90]

yeah...people should breed more, there are not yet enough people on this planet....lets make another 2 billions.

[h90]

Easily fixed in a military dictatorship. Use article 44 to order every woman between 15 and 50 to have daily intercourse with date-stamped video evidence or at least 2 witnesses.

Oh, and put the death penalty on oral and anal intercourse.

SATIRE

I think as comedian you would be bankrupt fast....

[masuk]

How does the birth rate compare to the Deaths on Motor bikes of mainly teens?

The birth rate is far below replacement level, even before deaths from motorbikes and other accidents. Even if not a single teenager died, the number of children being born is not enough to replace their parents once they die. The Thai population is going to decrease significantly in the future, unless there is immigration or Thai people start having more children

OK. I haven't looked at the statistics. The government might just have to bring in Child Endowment/Family Support/Food Coupons, so that parents can afford to have children and pay for their education.

With the current low rates of pay and debt problems, I can see that having more than one or two children would be a burden.

[trogers]

Tax incentives will not work.

Auto PRs to foreign men who father at least 2 Thai-born children would.

Edited July 1, 2015 by trogers

[Srikcir]

Simple and quick.

Allow immigration of the Rohingya families from Myanmar and Bangledesh.

[elgordo38]

There are quite enough people on the planet without bringing in a tax benefit

program to encourage large families in Thailand.

All one has to do is look around them. Drought, drugs, pollution, inflation (not the government fudged numbers) debt, global warming, crime increasing (especially by politicians), future exposure to globalism a world controlled by a select few and the rest are worker bees (fewer jobs thanks to robotics and 3 D printing and other tech advances) and well the list goes on and on. Very few turn out to be the next Einstein. I know having children is desired by one and all to leave a little bit of themselves behind after they pass onto to the big whatever in the sky. Few earthlings take a futurist planning view of things its only the here and now but would you really want to expose your child and their children and their children's children to all the above. By the time your child reaches 21 the above problems will have multiplied numerous times and we will be lucky to be able to survive on planet earth in the not to distant future. I feel that if we get to 2050 it will truly be a miracle. Yes there will be few workers in the future to contribute to the pension checks of the retired(your pension will have you as the sole contributor as governments and businesses want to opt out of all pension schemes). I think it takes 7 workers to keep 1 retiree. I honestly hope that my pensions last till I snuff it. I know a lot of do gooders will poo poo what I say but they only need to look to the past and the evolving present to see how much progress we the individual person has made(Exclude politicians and big business they are doing OK thank you) Also Mother Earth is at a tipping point and she is not tipping in our favor. Good luck in the future folks you heard it here first and well for the good luck part you will definitely need it.

[elgordo38]

How does the birth rate compare to the Deaths on Motor bikes of mainly teens?

The birth rate is far below replacement level, even before deaths from motorbikes and other accidents. Even if not a single teenager died, the number of children being born is not enough to replace their parents once they die. The Thai population is going to decrease significantly in the future, unless there is immigration or Thai people start having more children

OK. I haven't looked at the statistics. The government might just have to bring in Child Endowment/Family Support/Food Coupons, so that parents can afford to have children and pay for their education.

With the current low rates of pay and debt problems, I can see that having more than one or two children would be a burden.

Getting to sound like the good old USA and well the rest of the world in general.

[Mudcrab]

By 2030 one in four citizens will be 60 or above.

Whoops, there goes the retirement extensions - kill two birds with one stone,,,reduce the aged population and send the whiners back 'ome.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Mudcrab

[bheard]

Ummm, how wil they feed all lthese extra mouths?

The seas around Thailand are already being scraped clean of fish, and rice output/rai is diminishing with large amounts of fertiliser being used.

Short sighted policy, needs to be thought through.

The world needs fewer people, not more.

[bangon04]

OK. I haven't looked at the statistics. The government might just have to bring in Child Endowment/Family Support/Food Coupons, so that parents can afford to have children and pay for their education.

With the current low rates of pay and debt problems, I can see that having more than one or two children would be a burden.

Doesn't seem to stop the Isaan farmers.... badge of honour to father as many children as possible, especially when they have no money to feed them or educate them.

The Chinese Thai families get it - 2 kids to educate and take over the family fortune. Of course the problem will be that they won't be able to find enough cleaners and taxi drivers in the future...