Proposal to reduce income tax for families with two children

Giving her opinion on the draft Population Law, National Assembly Delegate Chamaléa Thi Thuy (Khanh Hoa) proposed that there should be a policy to reduce personal income tax for households that have two children.

Support policies need to be flexible and appropriate.

Discussing at Group 4 (including National Assembly delegations from Khanh Hoa , Lai Chau, Lao Cai provinces) on the afternoon of October 23 about the draft Law on Population, delegates agreed with the necessity of promulgating the Law.

Delegates attending the discussion session in Group 4 on October 23

According to delegate Chamaléa Thi Thuy, the promulgation of the Population Law to replace the Population Ordinance, shifting the focus from the issue of "family planning" to the issue of "population and development" is one of the new points for promulgating the Law.

National Assembly Delegate Chamaléa Thi Thuy (Khanh Hoa) speaks. Photo: Ho Long

Giving specific comments, delegate Chamaléa Thi Thuy proposed that, regarding the principles of implementing population work (Article 3), the draft Law needs to supplement and emphasize the principle of ensuring human rights, children's rights, the right to fair and equal access to reproductive health care and family planning services.

Delegates analyzed that in reality, there is still gender inequality in choosing the sex of the fetus, and uneven access to health services between regions, ethnic minorities, the poor, and people with disabilities...

Therefore, clearly establishing the principles of respecting and protecting human rights, children's rights, and ensuring comprehensive access to population and reproductive health services not only has legal significance, but also demonstrates the State's commitment to implementing social justice and sustainable development.

Such a provision is intended to ensure consistency with the 2013 Constitution and compliance with international treaties to which Vietnam is a member, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Regarding the policy of maintaining replacement fertility, Article 13 of the draft Law stipulates a number of population support policies such as maternity leave, financial support, housing, etc. with the aim of encouraging having two children.

However, according to delegates, the synchronous implementation of these policies, especially housing policies, faces many difficulties due to limited resources and the ability to balance the budget, especially in localities with difficult economic conditions.

Therefore, delegates proposed to regulate in a flexible and practical direction by adding the principle of "implementation within the scope of balancing the state budget and local budgets", to ensure feasibility and avoid creating expectations beyond implementation capacity.

According to the delegate, the draft Law needs to study and supplement a number of more sustainable and practical policies, such as: supporting the development of a system of childcare services, quality public and private preschool education, helping to reduce the burden of childcare for families, especially postpartum women.

In addition, it is necessary to consider reducing personal income tax for households that have two children as a form of direct support, which is encouraging and in line with policy trends in some countries with low birth rates.

“These policies not only provide financial support but also create conditions for people to feel secure in giving birth and raising children, contributing to effectively implementing the goal of a reasonable population and sustainable development,” said delegate Chamaléa Thi Thuy.

Ensuring basic rights and services for migrants

National Assembly Deputy Ha Hong Hanh (Khanh Hoa) commented that the draft Law needs to amend regulations on population size adjustment.

Accordingly, in addition to adjusting population size to ensure it is consistent with socio-economic development, resources, and the environment, it is necessary to consider having flexible regulations on population policies according to regions.

National Assembly Delegate Ha Hong Hanh (Khanh Hoa) speaks

Delegates analyzed that Vietnam is moving from the golden population stage to rapid population aging, while the birth rate in some localities such as Ho Chi Minh City is low, in remote areas, the birth rate is still relatively high.

Therefore, there should be policies to encourage having two children in places with low birth rates, such as financial support, housing priority, income tax reduction policies, etc.

On the contrary, in areas with high birth rates, it is necessary to promote awareness-raising and use birth-reduction support measures such as family planning services.

Emphasizing that a country must not only have a large population but also a high-quality population, delegate Ha Hong Hanh suggested that, in addition to implementing pre-marital health check-ups, prenatal and neonatal screening and treatment, it is necessary to supplement policies to improve population quality such as improving physical and mental strength associated with school health, school nutrition, and school sports.

The delegate pointed out that we are implementing many programs such as school health care, school nutrition, and school sports, but they are still individual, lack cohesion, and need to be overcome.

Regarding population distribution, delegate Ha Hong Hanh said that this is a big issue and the draft Law needs to be clarified further. Because currently, free migration and rapid urbanization are creating serious population imbalances between regions, especially the situation of overload in large cities.

“The law needs to stipulate a mechanism to reasonably regulate population, while ensuring basic rights and services for migrants, especially in health care, education, insurance, and social housing,” the delegate suggested.

In addition, according to delegate Ha Hong Hanh, it is necessary to study the application of digital technology in population data management to comply with Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation; apply digital transformation in population work; build a system to forecast population trends, monitor and analyze population policies.

National Assembly Deputy Hoang Quoc Khanh (Lai Chau) pointed out the reality when meeting with voters that in many places there are still difficulties but there are families with 4-5 children. The reason is because there is a monthly support policy for children from poor households living in ethnic minority areas aged 3 and under to receive 750,000 VND/month, "making people think that giving birth will bring them money".

National Assembly Deputy Hoang Quoc Khanh (Lai Chau) speaks

"Many voters asked whether this policy should be discussed again," said delegate Hoang Quoc Khanh.

According to the delegate, it is necessary to carefully consider this policy, and at the same time pay attention to policy propaganda work, because if not, it could increase the birth rate in areas with many difficulties, becoming a burden on health care, education, etc.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/de-xuat-giam-thue-thu-nhap-cho-gia-dinh-sinh-du-hai-con-10392629.html