China Taxes Condoms Amid Birth Rate Crisis, Sparks Widespread Mockery

• China imposed a 13% VAT on condoms and other contraceptives, ending a 30-year exemption, despite grappling with record-low birth rates and a shrinking population.
• The move, part of a 2024 VAT law, is seen as contradictory by many, as Beijing simultaneously encourages larger families while making birth control more expensive.
• Online, the policy triggered widespread mockery, with citizens highlighting the vast cost difference between contraceptives and raising a child.
• Experts deem the tax symbolic and ineffective, stating it won't boost births as the real deterrents are high costs of child-rearing, economic woes, and workplace pressures.
• Health experts warn the tax could reduce access for low-income groups, potentially leading to more unintended pregnancies, abortions, and STIs, disproportionately affecting women.

Why It Matters: China's new contraceptive tax, aimed at boosting births, is widely mocked and unlikely to solve its demographic crisis.