Saturday, September 29, 2012

Redistribution Is As American As Apple Pie

Politicians who claim that they oppose income redistribution don't really mean what they say.  Redistribution in the US, and in the rest of the world, is necessary and very common.  No politician could win an election by opposing the multiple forms in which redistribution occurs.  The real question is not whether there should be redistribution it is a question of degree.  This article reminds us of the many ways in which income is redistributed. 

Some of the forms of income redistribution work in reverse.  Income is transferred from the less well off to those with higher incomes.  This article does not attempt to discuss reverse redistribution but governments regularly provide subsidies and tax preferences to individuals and businesses by making the same argument that is made to support redistribution from the wealthy to the poor.  That is, they claim that it is in the public interest to so.

No comments:

Post a Comment