Sixty seconds on . . . China’s condom tax

Why are condoms being taxed?It’s all part of a “carrot-and-stick” approach by the Chinese government to try to boost birthrates. From 1 January 2026 condoms and other contraceptives will no longer be exempt from China’s 13% value added tax (VAT). This will be the first time since 1993.But shouldn’t we be encouraging safer sex?Yes, we should. Sexually transmitted infections are on the rise globally,1 and the World Health Organization recently reiterated that condoms are “one of the most effective methods of protection against a range of infections, including HIV.”A strange conception of a policy?It’s a sign of the times. Between 1979 and 2015 China imposed a “one child policy” to slow population growth, which had soared to a peak of around 7 births per woman in the 1960s. But by 2023 the birthrate had fallen to a historic low of around 1.0.Are there other (pro)creative ideas?The Chinese government raised the…