Answer:
Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confiscation, divorce or tort law.
-The term typically refers to redistribution on an economy-wide basis rather than between selected individuals.
Interpretations of the phrase vary, depending on personal perspectives, political ideologies and the selective use of statistics.
-It is frequently heard in politics, usually referring to perceived redistribution from those who have more to those who have less. Occasionally, however, it is used to describe laws or policies that cause opposite redistribution that shift monetary burdens from low-income earners to the wealthy.
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The phrase is often coupled with the term class warfare, with high-income earners and the wealthy portrayed as victims of unfairness and discrimination.
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Redistribution tax policy should not be confused with predistribution policies. "Predistribution" is the idea that the state should try to prevent inequalities from occurring in the first place rather than through the tax and benefits system once they have occurred. For example, a government predistribution policy might require employers to pay all employees a living wage, not just a minimum wage, as a "bottom-up" response to widespread income inequalities or high poverty rates.
Many alternate taxation proposals have been floated without the political will to alter the status quo. One example is the proposed "Buffett Rule", which is a hybrid taxation model composed of opposing systems, intended to minimize the favoritism of the special interest tax design.
