Childlessness Tax Would Breed Injustice, Not Demographic Growth

Introducing a childlessness tax will not solve Russia’s demographic problems but will only deepen social injustice, warned State Duma deputy Svetlana Bessarab in an interview with Pravda.Ru. Bessarab, a member of the Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs, responded sharply to a recent proposal from her colleague, retired Lieutenant General Andrey Gurulyov. Gurulyov had suggested the creation of a “dignified retirement tax” aimed at citizens without children. He shared that the idea emerged during a conversation with former Zabaykalsky Krai governor Ravil Geniatulin, who questioned why the state should care for the elderly who “left no offspring behind.” “The state, really? When you're old and infirm? No one needs you, you left no one behind. So why should the state carry this burden? Then pay a tax for a dignified retirement if you don't want children,” Gurulyov said. According to Bessarab, such a proposal contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation and revives failed policies of the Soviet past.