Importance of Income Redistribution Research Paper

Income Redistribution

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Introduction

Income redistribution from the rich to the poor has been a major initiative by the U.S government to help bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. This gap has resulted in the cases of inequality and poverty seen in different parts of the country (Cooper, Lutz, & Palumbo, 2015). The government has therefore attempted to bridge this gap by applying different methods. One of the methods implemented is to equalize income and wealth in that the same proportion that the rich receive their income is the same proportion to some extent that the poor should receive their income. Humanitarians all over the world have constantly touched the issue of fairness among human beings due to the discrimination that has happened in the past.

Importance of Income Redistribution

One way I which the United States has addressed this issue is by taxing the affluent and using the aggregated amount of money collected to fund state programs that take care of the welfare of those that are disadvantaged. Programs such as feeding programs for the homeless, road repairs, social security benefits, minimum wage, subsidies for education programs, Medicare and unemployment benefits are all funded through the taxes that the affiliate people of the country contribute to the national revenue. The aggregate amount of money contributed consists of trillions of dollars (Bania, Gray, & Stone, 2007).

Pros

• The money collected from the taxing process is applicable in paying the skyrocketing debt that has compounded along federal deficits. These debts and deficits have the capability of toppling the U.S and the world economy if not handled carefully (Cullen & Gordon, 2007).

• The wealthy people in the country already have enough wealth to take care of themselves thus it wouldn’t hurt them to distribute it to some of their fellow countrymen. Therefore, they won’t be hurt as much when their taxes are increased (Cullen & Gordon, 2007).

• The heavy taxing also keeps the wealthy people in check. With huge amounts of money comes great power. The government wouldn’t want people such as Bill Gates having power over them hence restricting their income is one way to limit their power (Bania et al., 2007).