Abstract For any given amount of tax revenue obtained from a specific tax, the standard model of economists focuses on the financial incentives in the tax schedule and requires that inevitable and unavoidable trade-offs are made between individuals who receive different levels of tax rates. Increasing the work incentives for one group or in one part of the earnings distribution necessarily requires that those incentives are decreased for some other group or in some other range. But a more attractive set of policy options consists of those that combine these considerations with work programmes drawn from a mix of employment and human capital strategies for different segments of the recipient population. Worth exploring are greater connections between individuals on benefit and the educational sector, sectoral employment and training strategies—including some with conditionality, even if only in a mild form—and other strategies to increase long-run earnings capabilities.
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