 Rich people will have to pay a "community allowance" amounting to a year of their income if they have more babies than the One Child Policy allows, the Beijing Population and Family Planning Commission announced recently.
The news has sparked heated discussion, so let's take a look at some media opinions on the issue.
In a commentary for Dazhong Daily, Chenyi Zhou said that since money isn't an issue for rich people who want more children, a monetary fine like this can't solve the problem. Chen argues it would be more effective for the related authority to set up stringent laws to force wealthy people follow the rules and have ethnic self-discipline.
Ou Muhua's review on China Net said that of the people who usually have more children than the One Child Policy allows, most are farmers in the rural areas and street peddlars in the cities, with the rich only accounting for a small proportion. Therefore, Ou said the heavy penalty on the rich will do nothing to ease the pressure of population growth, but might lead more rich people and celebrities to change their nationality to get the right to have more babies.
In an article for Tianshan Net, Lou Yihua said the heavy penalty would impact the middle class and general public rather than the rich. Lou points out that rich people do not lack money and might feel less about having extra children once they have paid such a heavy fine.
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