The decision to have children should be made easier

There's nothing new about Korea having low fertility rates, but it is still scary. The South Korean government is rushing to implement several policies. It exempts parents from gift tax up to 150 million won when giving their fortune to children who are getting married while raising parental leave pay. In addition, there will be special housing loan programs for parents with newborns as well as a special housing supply for newborns. Will these policies work?

First of all, worrying about gift taxes when buying a house only applies to newlyweds whose parents have assets to inherit to them. As even housing for public sales can cost hundreds of millions of won in the Seoul metropolitan area, special loans are a distant dream unless you have a job that guarantees a stable income. For young workers in small and medium-sized enterprises, the problem is not the salary when they take parental leave but the fact that it is still difficult to take parental leave itself.

A while back, there was an online controversy about the claim that “if you're poor, you shouldn't have children.” The idea is that if you're poor, you won't be able to provide a good environment for your children, and they'll end up unhappy as they cannot try anything they want. The notion is that you shouldn't force children to be born as you won't be able to raise them well.

The person who made this claim defined a 'good environment' as follows: sending children to cramming schools, buying them toys, occasionally dining at barbecue restaurants, and supporting them to enjoy their university life, including helping them travel abroad instead of having them work part-time. I believe the budget for addressing low fertility, which amounts to trillions of won a year, can meet these requirements.

The problem of low birth rates can only be solved by deciding to start a family easier for everyone. Regardless of being a low-income earner, a foreign worker, or a single parent, people should be able to envision a happy life with their children. I hope the government bears in mind that this is the ultimate objective of policies such as the newborn loan and the gift tax exemption for newlyweds.