benefit principle
benefit principleThe principle that the cost of public expenditures should be met by those who benefit from them. This is contrasted with the ability to pay principle. The benefit principle is extremely difficult to apply. Public support for the disabled or unemployed cannot be paid for by these groups, who need support precisely because they have no incomes. If the group of beneficiaries is widened to include everybody who has been or could ever become disabled or unemployed, this includes everybody. Those without children may resent paying for education, but were presumably once educated themselves, and are going to need an educated labour force to look after them when they are old. The vast cost of maintaining a modern level of public services makes the use of the ability to pay principle for taxation inevitable.
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