Everyone Is on Welfare: ‘The Role of Redistribution in Social Policy’ Revisited

Abstract

Titmuss's model of three welfare systems is used to analyze how the rapidly expanding system of tax benefits available to middle- and upper-income groups parallels the social welfare system for the poor. Operating as a shadow welfare state, the tax benefits system is invisible and nonstigmatized, favors the privileged over the poor, makes the tax code more regressive, and contributes to the upward redistribution of income endorsed by the Reagan Administration.