Japan's government and ruling parties agreed Thursday to stop paying 'special' child benefits to households with an annual income of Y12 million or more.

The new rule will apply to benefits to be paid in October 2022 and later.

Under the nation’s child benefit scheme, which covers junior high school and younger children, child-rearing households with annual incomes exceeding certain levels are given Â¥5,000 per child per month as special allowances.

Meanwhile, ordinary child benefits are paid to households under a certain income level, with the monthly amount set at ¥15,000 per child aged under 3 and ¥10,000 per older child in principle.

The government and the ruling pair of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito also agreed to give up a plan to use the combined incomes of both working parents as a threshold for double-income households to receive child benefits. The government will keep intact the current system in which the higher of the income earned by the husband and that by the wife is used as a threshold.

Source: ANNnewsCH