Condoms to be hit with VAT in China to boost birthrate

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December 18, 2025
2 min read

Condoms to be hit with VAT in China to boost birthrate

In a bid to improve its birthrate, China will impose a value-added tax (VAT) on condoms and other contraceptives for the first time in decades. From 1^st January, they will be hit with the 13% rate that they were exempt from when the country introduced VAT nationwide in 1993.

The measure was “buried” in a VAT law in 2024, The Guardian reports, in an “effort to modernise China’s tax regime,” with VAT accounting for almost 40% of the country’s total tax revenue.

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Following the strict one-child policy that was in place for decades, China has introduced measures to encourage people to have more children to tackle its falling birthrate.

Aside from raising the limit of children allowed per couple to three, some regions have experimented with discounted IVF treatment and cash subsidies for additional children. Newlyweds have even been offered additional days of paid leave by some local authorities.

Many have mocked imposing VAT on condoms and other contraceptives, with one user writing that “they are truly going to extreme lengths just to make us have children.”

Tax breaks for childcare and “marriage introduction services” will also be part of the new VAT law.

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