Helping those 'who never had it so good'

With China's economy slowing down, some economists once again call on to levy the personal income tax based on family revenue to accelerate boosting consumption.

No doubt to ease the tax burden will be helpful. If the 20-something generation "never had it so good" as children, now they have started their working lives, the reverse is definitely the case. They have to spend heavily on educating their own children, mortgages for their homes and looking after parents and grandparents. The biggest burden of all is their own and their parents' expectations as to their standard of living and the hopes of the government that they can be the engine of a domestic consumption boom that can transform the economy.

There has been considerable debate in the press over the extent to which reform of the individual income tax system may help ease the weight of these obligations, while still encouraging the sense of individual responsibility for which the Chinese are rightly renowned. In many developed countries we have seen the development of the tax system to provide a number of different incentives. These include vouchers to help lower the cost of child care for women returners to work, tax allowances to encourage contributions to individual pensions so as to reduce the burden on the State system, and tax credits to provide real additional income from working rather than remaining unemployed.