In order to strengthen measures to address the declining birthrate, the government presented a proposal for concrete measures at an expert meeting on January 1.
It includes economic support measures, such as abolishing income restrictions on child allowance and expanding the scope of the allowance to include high school students.
The budget will be in the mid-3 trillion yen range over the next three years, and while efforts will be made intensively, financial resources will be secured through expenditure reforms and other measures, and specific details will be examined in the future.
The draft "Children's Future Strategy Policy," which includes measures to strengthen measures to address the declining birthrate, states that the annual budget will be in the mid-3 trillion yen range over the next three years and that efforts will be intensively promoted as an "acceleration plan."
Specifically, after abolishing the income limit on child allowance, the scope of the allowance will be expanded to include high school students, with 3,0 yen per person under the age of 3 to 1 and 1,5000
yen
per person from 3 years old to high school students. From
the third child onwards, the amount
will be increased to 1,3 yen regardless of age until high school students, and both will be considered for implementation within the next fiscal year.
On the other hand, we will organize how we think about the deduction for dependents, which reduces income tax for parents who support high school students, based on the balance with the treatment of junior high school students who are not eligible.
In addition, by fiscal 2026, the government has stated that it will consider further strengthening childbirth support, including the application of public insurance.
Furthermore, as a measure to reduce the cost of higher education, from next fiscal year, we will further expand tuition reductions and grant-type scholarships to the middle class with an annual household income of up to about 600 million yen, including university students with science majors and students with multiple children.
In addition, from next fiscal year, the company aims to introduce a full-scale system in which children can be entrusted to daycare centers even if their parents are not working.
In addition, if both parents take childcare leave, we aim to increase the rate of childcare leave benefits from fiscal 4 so that take-home income does not change for up to four weeks.
In addition to the expenditure reform of social security expenses, the necessary financial resources
will be secured by fiscal 2025 through the establishment of a new "support money system" that will be borne by society as a whole, bearing in mind the use of the social insurance system.
It is going to be financed by issuing it.
In addition, with the aim of virtually minimizing the burden on the public through thorough expenditure reform and other measures, the Bank emphasized that it will not raise taxes with the aim of securing financial resources to enhance budgets related to children and child-rearing, such as the consumption tax.
On the other hand, the new subsidy system will be considered in the course of expenditure reform and other measures, and the details will be concluded at the end of the year.
In addition, a bill for necessary system revisions, such as the establishment of a new special account, will be submitted to the ordinary session of the Diet next year.
In addition, regarding the Kishida administration's plan to double the budget for children and child-rearing, the annual budget of the Children and Family Agency will increase by about 2028.5 times from the current nearly 1 trillion yen in the "Acceleration Plan," and has indicated that it will proceed with initiatives while verifying the effects and aim to achieve a doubling by the early 5s.
The government, in coordination with the ruling parties and others, will decide on the "Children's Future Strategy Policy" by the end of this month.
Prime Minister Kishida: "We will proceed without asking the public to bear additional burdens"
At the meeting, Prime Minister Kishida stated, "It is important to promote measures to address the declining birthrate on different dimensions and raising the incomes of young people and child-rearing generations as 'two wheels of the car,' so to speak, and that we must not impede economic growth and reduce the income of young people and child-rearing generations in order to secure financial resources."
He then emphasized that "we will advance measures to address the declining birthrate without requiring the public to bear a substantial additional burden by reducing public expenditures and reducing the burden of social insurance through expenditure reforms and other measures."