Financing the Welfare State and the Politics of Taxation
Résumé
Financing mechanisms and the principles on which they rest provide important insights into the nature of different welfare states, reflecting different conceptions of solidarity and different redistributive ambitions. The way welfare states are financed is hence of crucial importance for understanding cross-national differences in the institutional design of welfare programs and their outcomes. Financial structures also have repercussions for the degree of legitimacy that welfare states enjoy, affecting the welfare state’s ability to raise new resources, also in the future. The future financing of welfare state programs is not only evoking considerable scholarly interest but also remains a controversial political issue. This chapter introduces key concepts in research and debate on welfare state financing.