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The Japanese government is considering cutting back on child allowances for high-income households with two working parents and divert the funds saved to creating more daycare centers. How do you feel about this?

14 Comments

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14 Comments
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Fine if its for high income families only, but I am concerned as what constitutes high income.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

yeah, myself and my wife, both hard working career persons are ecstatic about this. Of course we earn a bit more that a single income family, but we do spend a lot on day care, school, etc.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

How do I feel about it? I feel it’s just another load of headline grabbing crap from the LDP. Abe went on about increasing childcare for the decade he was in office. He even stated that funds from the second sales tax increase would be used to create more child care and support families. Not a single yen has been used for these purposes. Now, they want to take money off families to support other families. Just more bovine excrement from the cronies in Kasumigaseki.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

It makes sense, if, indeed, it's only going to affect the high income bracket.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

It's not only the case but I often see some "steps" due to rough categorization for entitlement in Japan's support systems. As a result, there arise haves and have-nots although the economic situations (income, consumption) between the two groups are quite identical.

Such unfair treatment would give rise to moral hazard and shun an incentive for working. In fact, there are still many housewives or part-time workers instead of full-ledged career seekers/bread earners simply because they would lose entitlements (a sudden loss by gross not disproportional amount) once they raise income through working. To stay as a housewife is in a way the optimal position to maximize benefts.

Like flat tax systems, it is better to give or levy money by fixed and proportional percentage.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The family might be high income Because they both work. And they both might work because they need money for daycare. (Plus food, rent, and school fees.) Suga wants to take that money away from them so he can provide them with daycare?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

make it proportionate according to the income of each family. If they're poorer than average, increase the allowance and if richer, lessen it.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

This should have happened years ago. It’s announced now but we all know Japanese beaurocracy, it’s going to take at least another three to five years to actually happen.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Take some out of the daily printed money mountains and give it to all children and all necessary daycare instead of already super rich stakeholders. What is so difficult to understand with that?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

How about funding this by cutting the number of government workers and reducing salaries? Cutting bonuses would also be a good idea.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Gotta save that yen for the brown envelopes to cronies in gov't and corporations. People here don't matter.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I disagree with this. The people who should get financial support are people who look after their own babies. A society where 100% of one year olds go into care 9-10 hours a day is not an ideal society.

In some cases both parents working is unavoidable, but let's face it, the best way to raise a baby or toddler is for the parents to do it. You get better bonding and its less stressful for the kids. This has been proved by medical studies of the stress hormone cortisol. You can be a very strong feminist and still think a young child's best place is with its parents, not other people.

Paying parents with under threes 50,000 a month to not use childcare makes more sense than the government paying around 150,000 yen per child per month (minus typically 30,000 yen or so from parents) for childcare just so the mother can go out to earn less than 120,000. Millions of women (have to) earn less than 1.3 million yen a year so they can get spousal dependency. Japan is not full of career women on big salaries. I bet close to half the families using under 3 childcare nationwide include a dependent spouse earning 10 man a month or less. It may be a minority in the cities, but it is very common in inaka.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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