China is mulling to reduce taxes for families who give birth to a second child, after numerous media reports said some families have chosen not to have a second child due to financial burden.

Finance Minister Xiao Jie said at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session on Tuesday that the ministry is mapping out a plan for the reform of individual income tax.

Apart from collecting taxes on certain types of individual incomes such as remuneration for casual work on a yearly basis, another policy is under consideration to increase the number of tax-exempt items such as education for families who have a second child.

"The policy will help reduce the burden of the families which have two children. However, the standards, such as how much money will be exempt from taxation and until what age children can benefit from the policy, will need to be specified," Zhang Bin, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

In February, Wang Pei'an, deputy head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission(NHFPC), said at a national academic conference on social security in Beijing that China is considering new pro-natal incentives across the nation to make it easier to both work and raise young children, including the establishment of nurseries at workplaces, extension of maternity leave and provision for paternity leave, as well as higher financial subsidies.

Citing results of a NHFPC survey, Wang said three-fifths of the families who refuse to have a second child say it is because of financial pressure and lack of childcare, and one-third of mothers were forced to quit their full-time jobs to become stay-at-home moms.

"Providing financial subsidy is more useful than reducing taxes as many poor families whose incomes have not reached the threshold of taxation can enjoy the policy. It will immensely help relieve their financial hardship," said Zhang.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that China had a population of about 1.38 billion by the end of 2016, with 17.86 million newborns and 9.77 million deaths in 2016.