policy introduced by Nicolae Ceaușescu in Communist Romania in the period 1967-1989. Along with the outlawing of abortion and contraception (1967) and mandatory gynecological revisions, these taxes were introduced in various forms in 1977 and 1986. Unmarried citizens had to pay penalty for childlessness, the tax income rate being increased by 8-10% for them. China Previously, the fine is so-called "social maintenance fee" and it is the punishment for the families who have more than one child. According to the policy, the families who violate the law may bring the burden to the whole society. Therefore, the social maintenance fee will be used for the operation of the basic government. Effects and proposals During the Soviet Union, Russia had a higher fertility rate than it did in the years after the fall of the Soviet Union, prompting some Russian leaders to propose bringing back the tax on childlessness. According to the Health Ministry, the total fertility rate dropped from 2.19 children/woman to 1.17 children/woman in the aftermath of the Soviet Union. According to the Russian Director of the Center for Demography Anatoliy Vishnevskiy, this birth rate is among the lowest in the world, and Russian leaders have described the demographic issues in Russia as being symptomatic of a "crisis". While the tax on childlessness has not been re-enacted, other proposals have been. For example, Vladimir Putin enacted a proposal to provide cash incentives for women who are willing to have a second child. In 2018, a Childless tax was proposed in China to counter their own birth rate issues. See also Bachelor tax Birth dearth Child benefit Childlessness Demographic transition Decreței Family in the Soviet Union One-child policy Population planning Reproductive rights Russian Cross Two-child policy Three-child policy References Demographics of the Soviet Union Taxation in the Soviet Union Natalism Abolished taxes Taxes promoting marriage and reproduction Discrimination against LGBT people