Study On The Legal System Of Itemized Deductions For Specific Expenditures For Education And Support

In March 2022,the State Council added seven itemized deductions for specific expenditures,namely the itemized deduction for the care of infants and children under the age of three.Three of these seven itemized deductions are related to support for the elderly and children: education for children,support for the elderly and care for infants and children,which fully reflects the importance that our Individual Income Tax Law places on the protection of the right to live and the realisation of social policies.The report of the 20 th Party Congress clearly outlines that "Chinese modernisation is a modernisation with a huge population" and that "a fertility support policy system will be established and a national strategy to actively cope with population ageing will be implemented".At present,the age structure of China’s population is unbalanced,and the situation of fewer children and an ageing population is serious,so it is urgent to take measures to address this serious challenge,and the three new itemized deductions are one of the effective measures.The itemized deductions for specific expenditures for child education,elderly support and infant care are the institutional support provided by our individual income tax system in response to these circumstances.These three deductions have achieved positive results,but there are still imperfections.Firstly,the scope of the deduction lacks legitimacy;secondly,the criteria for the deduction lacks fairness;and finally,the method of apportionment lacks reasonableness.This thesis firstly composes the jurisprudence behind the three itemized deductions for children’s education,maintenance of the elderly and infant and child care,takes the protection of the right to survival as the starting point,implements the taxation based on ability as the starting point and realises the social policy objectives as the anchor point,analyses the shortcomings of the current deduction system and,on the basis of the experience of relevant systems.It also proposes corresponding improvements with a view to further optimising the legal system of itemized deductions for education and support.