Income Redistribution

In politics, income redistribution refers to the concept that governments should encourage the movement of wealth from richer individuals to poorer individuals. It takes two forms: voluntary income redistribution (otherwise known as charity), and compulsary income redistribution.

Some conservatives (such as Ayn Rand) oppose all forms of income redistribution, believing that a person should only receive in income what they are able to earn through the markets. They believe that charity does harm both to the giver (by depriving him of what he earned), to the receiver (by not encouraging him to earn money), and to society as a whole (by taking money away from those who have shown themselves able to use it effectively, and giving it to those who have shown themselves incapable of using it effectively.

Other conservatives favor voluntary income redistribution through charities, but oppose compulsary income redistribution, which they see as an unjust interference with private property rights.

Liberals generally support both forms of income redistribution. Their position is premised on the egalitarian and/or Marxist view of economic justice, that it is unjust for individuals to have grossly different incomes. Because market systems naturally create these inequalities, and because of their belief that charity cannot adequately counter these inequalities, liberals believe that some degree of compulsary income redistribution is necessary in a just society.

Examples of government programs performing compulsary income redistribution include welfare and progressive taxation.