Thai tax plan can’t spur births

The luxury of parenthood: You have to go back 40 or 50 years to find Thai families with six or more children. - AFP

THE more children you have, the more likely you’ll be poor: That was the grim slogan of a national birth-control campaign more

than four decades ago. It was dire, but it was also accurate, and it remains accurate today. In the years since, the cost of rearing, educating and keeping a child healthy has steadily risen. It’s the embarrassing, albeit practical, reason why many married couples forego parenthood.