In recent years, tycoons and celebrities flouting the birth
control regulations have become a hot social issue. Recently, 11
ministries and commissions, including the Organization Department
of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the
State Family Planning Commission, collectively issued the
Notification on Strengthening the Policies and Measures concerning
the Population and Family Planning. The notification rules that the
amount of the "social child-raising fee" shall be determined by the
birth control violator's income level.
Citizens are showing great concern about how to impose fines on
the rich who disobey birth control laws. The question is: how much
they should be fined??
This is what happened recently in Guangzhou: a pregnant woman
accompanied by her husband strutted in to visit their local birth
control office. They took out a red bankbook, flung it on the desk
and said, "Here is 200,000 yuan (US$26,570), impose as much of a
fine as you want. We need to take care of our future baby. Please
do not come to disturb us.”
According to one Guangzhou family planning worker, in some
expensive blocks and villas one can now and then see young mothers
taking a walk with two or three kids. Most of these families are
business owners. They do not fear fines and they neglect birth
control, freely giving birth to more than one child. "A poor family
hides away when giving birth to more than one child, while the rich
man simply pays a fine to have more than one
child.”??
?
"Guangdong will not allow rich people or celebrities to become
'special citizens'," said Zhang Feng, the deputy-secretary of the
Guangzhou government and the director of the Guangdong Family
Planning Commission, yesterday in an interview with the reporter.
He further expressed that it was not fair that rich people and
celebrities could disobey the one-child policy. He stated that
those who made a negative impact on society would be publicly
exposed and be strictly punished. Guangdong worked out the
Regulations of Guangdong Province on Population and Family Planning
in 2002 and took the lead in imposing heavy fines on high-income
citizens who have violated the one-child policy.?
Article 55 of the Regulations of Guangdong Province on
Population and Family Planning prescribes that: Urban residents who
give birth to a second child, shall pay a lump social child-raising
fee that ranges between 3 and 6 times of their last year's income.
This fee shall be collected based on the last year per capita
disposable income of the urban residents of the local counties
(cities or districts). Those who earn more than the above mentioned
income shall pay a higher social child-raising fee, ranging between
one and two times of the sum exceeding the average income.
The Guangdong law stipulates a formula to calculate the fines
for rich violators of one-child policy. For example, the per capita
disposal income of the Tianhe District in Guangzhou last year was
about 200,000 yuan. If one private enterprise boss in this district
earned 200,000 yuan last year, he would pay a maximum social
child-raising fee of: 20,000×6+(200,000-20,000)×2=480,000 yuan
(about US$63,763) and a minimum 20,000×3+(200,000-20,000)×1=240,000
yuan (US$31,884). This is only the fine for one of the couple. The
fines for both members of the couple would be much more. And for
those who have more than two children the fines will be
doubled.?
?
Family planning cadres at the grassroots level complained to the
reporter that despite the clear regulations, many difficulties
exist regarding the practical implementation of these regulations.
It is relatively easy to clarify the income of the employees of
state and collective enterprises and institutions. But it proves
extremely difficult to determine the actual income of many private
enterprise bosses and celebrities. Some of them even transfer their
assets and real estate properties, making it hard to impose an
exact fine on them according to their actual
income.??
???
With regard to this problem, related responsible persons in the
Guangdong Family Planning Commission said that family planning
departments will study and put forward more detailed policies
according to the Notification on Strengthening the Policies and
Measures Concerning the Population and Family Planning. They are
considering working with taxation, commerce, labor and banking
departments and imposing more severe penalties to prevent the
current trend of the rich giving birth to more than one
child.?
(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai, September 18, 2007)