JJapan

Why Japan Hates the New “Bachelor Tax” Aimed at Reversing Population Decline

  • January 7, 2026

Why Japan Hates the New “Bachelor Tax” Aimed at Reversing Population Decline

by chaoser

7 comments

  1. >The new tax is the latest gambit by Japan’s beleaguered Children & Families Agency (家庭庁; katei-chou) to prove its worth. The agency has come under fire for achieving little with its 7.5 trillion yen ($47.87B) budget. Taxpayers have also criticized it for wasting money on canceled projects, such as its defunct AI-powered child abuse detection system.

    >Indeed, as Mainichi Shimbun reports, there have been vocal calls online since around 2024 to dismantle the agency altogether. Proponents argue that the family of every new child born in the country could receive a 10 million yen ($63,830) stipend if the agency’s budget and the concomitant taxes were eliminated – and that this would do more to spur people to have children than anything else.

    Does anyone know why it needs 7.5 trillion yen? I feel like other nations have already done extensive studies on trying to reverse population decline that Japan could use

  2. The biggest issue with this kind of stick approach is that it penalizes people for choosing things in their lives. Some people may not want kids. Should the government penalize them for that? 

    What about people who physically cant have kids due to medical conditions? How is that remotely fair. 

  4. So, my wife has a medical condition where her life would be put at significant risk during pregnancy and the risk could potentially skyrocket during childbirth.

    Sooooo our premiums go up because my wife doesn’t want to die?

  5. I agree with the fact that agencies spend public funds inefficiently…

    buuuuuut…

    It’s also kinda silly for singles to be complaining about the ‘taxes’ while parents literally have to pay a lot of money to raise the next generation of tax payers who (you guessed it) will be paying the taxes that keep the current ‘bachelors’ future pension and health services alive.

  7. I gotta wonder when they will just artificially start making babies and have them raised by carers. We have the technology and the government can raise them or pay someone to do it.

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