Integrating Income Taxation and Social Security: Analysis of a Partial Basic Income

Abstract

The integration of taxes and benefits is a very appealing idea. Most people viewing for the first time the complexity of the present British tax and benefit system conclude that the only sensible way to proceed is to integrate the two in a single system. At present there is overlap in the functions of income taxation and social security benefits. The income tax through tax allowances and reliefs provides the equivalent of benefits. It is for this reason that in the United States deductions from taxable income have come to be known as ‘tax expenditures’. In terms of cash, there is no difference between paying less tax and receiving a benefit, as was recognised when child tax allowances and family allowances were fused into a single child benefit. The integration of income taxation and social security would be the logical development of this process.