Why does the problem of the big tradeoff arise when the government engages in the process of redistributing income using taxes and transfers?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

There are two reasons why the big tradeoff problem arises. First, in the process of transferring income from the people who have to those who do not have, an administrative cost is incurred by society. The result is that $1 taxed is not $1 transferred. Hence the effort to make incomes more equal decreases the average income. Second, taxing people's income is a disincentive to work, while taxing people's savings is a disincentive to accumulate capital. As a result, people work less and save less, both of which decrease the amount of goods and services produced and decrease people's income. Hence once again the effort to make incomes more equal decreases the average income.