2014年4月6日 星期日

年輕人口萎縮很多; 天價樓價與租金;稅務減稅

High cost of living causes low birth rate
Hong Kong's government encouraged people not to have too many children in the 1970s, but in the past few decades - as officials have grown increasingly concerned about the low birth rate - it has tried to persuade families to grow.
Today the youth population has shrunk so much that the government expects a quarter of the city's population will be 65 or over by 2030.
The burden or caring for all these additional old people will fall on the shoulders - and taxes - of fewer working people.
I feel the government should act by offering financial incentives to encourage couples to start having more babies.
Many people believe economic pressures are contributing most to the low birth rate. House prices and rents are already sky-high in Hong Kong, so having larger families will mean couples having to buy even bigger homes - plus all the additional costs of having to raise extra children.
To avoid these greater financial burdens, they choose not to have big families.
Yet tax breaks for young couples with babies - with incentives rising with each additional child - will certainly ease the problem of the city's ageing population.
Another way to encourage bigger families is to solve the problem of the high cost of housing. If people are able to more easily afford a larger house then they will more readily consider having bigger families.
The government needs to focus on halting the low-birth rate as a priority - right now.
Linus Wong, Fanling



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