Income Redistribution

Income redistribution is the act of individuals voluntary charitable giving or government compulsory transferring assets and income from one group of citizens to another group of citizens.

Most conservatives accept and advocate voluntary charitable giving as necessary to alleviate social problems, and believe government should not interfere, but rather should encourage personal involvement and personal giving to underprivileged, elderly, disabled, and other hardship cases. Also, many conservatives view some forms of government mandatory compulsory giving as an impingement on personal rights, unjust expropriation of property, and fosters irresponsible social conduct.

Liberals generally support income redistribution based on their belief that individual charitable giving cannot be relied upon and tends to advocate some degree of compulsory redistribution of resources as necessary. Also, mandatory giving creates jobs for bureaucrats, dependent constituencies as electoral bases, and ligitimizes class warfare.

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