In a draft policy package to tackle the rapidly declining birthrate, Japan's government pledged Friday to remove the income limit for
parents to receive child allowances and increase the benefits for
families with multiple children. But the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has still shied away from clarifying to what extent it would hike taxes to fund the budget for such measures, which critics call pork barrel policies, in the run-up to a series of local elections in April.