THE city is considering preferential tax policies to encourage adults to live with their parents, the Yangcheng Evening News reported Wednesday.

    The policy is part of a package of measures the city’s civil affairs bureau has proposed in response to Shenzhen’s aging population. The bureau is soliciting public opinion on the measures on its official website.

    The bureau said in its proposal that local families who live with elderly parents will enjoy a higher threshold on their personal income tax, meaning that the living expenses of the elderly parents will be deducted before being levied on personal income tax.

    Statistics show that the number of residents with Shenzhen hukou aged 60 and above will rise to 400,000 by the end of 2020 from 250,000 this year, while the number of residents aged 60 and above who live in Shenzhen will grow to 760,000 by 2020 from the current 490,000.

    The fast growth in the number of senior residents puts substantial pressure on the city’s already strained social service system. Currently, there are only 3,000 beds in all homes for seniors across the city, both public and private, meaning that for every 1,000 elderly residents there are only 35 beds.

    The bureau said it will speed up the construction of homes for the elderly.

    The bureau is proposing exempting senior residents from paying a planned property tax in the future if they mortgage their apartments to pay for their living expenses. Another proposal by the bureau is that seniors be exempted from sales tax and personal income tax if they sell their property to pay for their own living expenses.

    (Han Ximin)