Combating Poverty through Decreasing Income Inequality - Essay Example

due: Combating poverty through decreasing income inequality Introduction Poverty has become a major catastrophe in the world. Severe poverty has led to lack of basic necessities and even deaths in many families from poor countries. Households that are mostly affected by low income and poverty are those led by unemployed, retired, home workers or disabled persons (Fama 1617-1574).Lack of equal distribution of resources has led to income inequality which has to be dealt with in order to solve the problem of poverty. In the first section of this paper am going to deal with the policies that have been put across to help in combating poverty and how the policies will help in increasing growth of the economy in poor countries by focusing on reducing worlds income inequality. In the second section I will be dealing with the effectiveness of the policies in reduction of poverty and growth of economy in poor countries. Income inequality and poverty I agree with the statement because, income inequality affects a country’s economy; which comes as a result of poverty in the society. Research done shows that income inequality is reflected in high relation to income poverty rates. Income inequality has also been linked with health problems. This is because income inequality is associated with many issues that affect the health of children adversely (Wilkinson 1996). Many health problems are also associated with the amount of income people earn. In a psychological interpretation, the health status of person affects their income and thus if one is unhealthy, there is a possibility of low income. Income inequality is also associated with mental illness. People with poor living standards are at higher risks of physical and mental illnesses as a result of stress and lack of balanced diet. According to Wainwright (72-69) to help in fighting poverty, equal distribution of income, developments in social and economic environments must be looked into. Income inequality affects the economy in ways and it leads to inflation too. It is therefore necessary for the government and the citizen to come up with policies to help curb income inequality which has lead to poverty in the society mostly affecting the poor countries. Policies to be implemented include:- To combat poverty and economic discrimination, there has to be application of polices that are made and implemented by the society with total assistance by all sectors of the government. The implemented policies should enhance and promote equal opportunities and offer access to basic social services, strengthen collective and individual participation and responsibility in the fight against poverty, establish specific programs or incentives to cater for the requirements of the affected. To overcome poverty and eliminate economic discrimination in the poor countries in the world needs democracy in which the rules are observed and the human rights are observed (Callan & Nolan 1999). Tax reduction There are various policies that have been defined and applied globally to help combat poverty. Firstly, saying no to more tax reductions on children’s income is one of the policies to be used to reduce poverty. Reducing of tax rates will be of great help to the poor as they will not be forced to spare a lot of money for tax rather they will use it to develop themselves. On the other hand tax allowances should be increased and bands widened to individual levels. This will benefit the poor by providing them with some income to start business and hence reduce poverty level. The more business being set up, the country continues to earn more revenue and hence the economy grows (Szreter 40-38). Tax consumes most of earning people s income and at times, they end up having very less to spend as a result of tax. Reduction of tax rates will be of great help to the poor people in different countries worldwide. Taxing a child’s income reduces their morale to work and that makes them go back to the streets to beg for food. Welfare schemes Another policy that would benefit the poor countries is by the government contributing in improvements of education related organisations and all welfare schemes of children. These facilities include schools, child care centers, self help groups, training centers and other learning facilities. By this the people in the society will gain knowledge and skills necessary for employment and hence provide the basic necessities for their families after they get a job. These centers also help in killing and reducing boredom in the society and hence combating crime which at times leads to poverty (Strunk & White 1999). Self help initiatives help brings out creativity in individuals and they might get an opportunity to work in high places thus assisting in building the economy and reducing poverty in the societies. The government can also assist in provision of raw materials needed for progress in self help groups while in the learning institutions they could supply required for learning facilities like books, and employment of trained teachers. Savings and credit initiatives Moreover, the people in the society and the government should help in introduction of savings and credit initiatives schemes for the low income people. This will help the people learn how to save whatever little they earn and spend it in the future. This scheme may find some people with the knowledge of operating a bank and thus they may end up providing employment in the different departments in the organization. Income re-distribution To add to that, re-distribution of income could be another policy to help in reducing poverty in the society. This will enhance balanced allocation of the states income and hence increase personal allowances. Distribution of increased wealth in the society among the populations is a very important component of well being in the society (Nolan 2001). This would help everyone be part of the economic growth and enjoy it like the rich in the society do. Sharing the acquired economic growth could prove a hard task to ensure that everyone gets a fair share. This policy would ensure that people from poor families would get additional improvements; it would ensure a fair system of support for children’s care (Stainstreet et al 207-206). With high growth rate, comes employment opportunities and hence increase in monthly income. Essential earnings and income redistribution in support of those earning low income is a good measure in reducing poverty and creating growth in the economy as the society becomes inclusive. Another policy that was defined was to make children’s income sufficient to meet their basic requirements and costs. This will help increase the children benefit and it will enable them to meet their basic needs. As a result dependency ration will increase thereby reducing the amount of expenses. As a result, business will grow and the economy will grow as a result of growth of growth in businesses. Increased child benefit will be mostly targeted on the large families as they have higher risk of poverty infestation. This will also enhance equal distribution of resources for the children too (Soobader & LeClere 740-734). To male this effective, there will be a need to improve the position of adults on the lowest payments who face risk of poverty and hence their children will be helped. Increasing the children benefit weekly, monthly and an all-encompassing of wage, and a long term objective of meeting two thirds of basic child nurturing costs will also be inclusive for the children. Income inequality and poverty Inequality of income and poverty are inseparable; therefore another policy to help reduce poverty in poor countries is by providing a fair system of sustainance for childcare expenses of families. The government should come up with strategies to help the parents in poor countries with their childcare expenses and costs (Smith 180-175).This would mean extending tax band for single people and introduce child benefit supplement for children for children less than five years or a parental payment for families with children under age of five. The focus of children under five could be justified by the lack of equivalent state childcare provision for this younger age. They are even more associated with high usage of the basic necessities. Social amenities People from poor families face housing problems. To help them and growth of the society a policy should be developed to increase and improve current housing needs of the poor people. Housing shortages leads to lack of competitiveness in the society. This should be done together with improvements of infrastructural facilities in the living areas of the poor people. With good transport and communication, they will be in a point to start some self help gropes and earn a living (Davey et al 377-373). They will also be in a point to reach the civilized places and learn new technology by going to schools and training centres.Lack of good infrastructural facilities increases poverty as the people do not have any advancement, and they lack a way to be in touch with the developed world. However, these people are not stupid it is only that t heir creativity is still untapped and unexploited. Housing facilitates effective coordination and improves the social economic statues of a society. Health issues Moreover, health issues are another major hindrance to reduction of poverty. Low income people are affected by so many diseases due to bad health, lack of hygiene, lack of balanced diet, dirty water, lack of health centres and many more predisposing factors ( Layte & O’Connell 1990). A policy should be set up to help curb this problem of health inequalities. Sick people cannot work; as a matter of fact they use the saved income to get them back to become healthy again. This leads to inflation and poverty strikes. Focus should be based on preventive measures, curing the sick and teaching people on the importance of staying health. The government should also help by building health centres and clinics, provide medication and employ doctors in the society with poor people. This will help improve their health so that they could go back to work and start building the Nations economy (Shuman 1998). Education Education is very important for a country’s economy to grow and it can also help in eradication of poverty. According to Keynes (1936.) the poor people do not have the privilege to pass through formal education as they do not have the necessary requirements to attend a leaning institution. There are so many reasons behind this; lack of school fees, lack of schools, lack of interest in school, ignorance, poor infrastructure, lack of qualified teachers and tutors and lack of basic necessities. Efforts should be made by the government to build schools and provide all the necessities for learning to enhance learning (Drudy & Punch 2001). Unfortunately there is a link between lack of housing unemployment, poor health, and lack of education and poverty. Efforts should be put to improve on the education center as it is the back bone of the economy. Without education, success cannot prevail and hence the economy cannot grow. Education should be administered to all member of the family regardless their gender or age (McCoy, et al 2000). Unemployment Unemployment is the biggest contributors of poverty globally. Lack of jobs has become a major issue even to the learned people. To help the poor people, the government should support employment schemes that are locally based. Providence of good infrastructure, healthy society and also education marks a big step in moving towards employment (Peillon 2001). The government should enhance that people from poor families with the necessary qualification fro a certain jobs are not discriminated upon because of their social background. Earnings dispersions despite centralized salary allowance shows the need for aiming the expenses of the working poor in an organisation.Working people who are poor are very good at their work, in that case increasing their salary makes them put more efforts on their work to earn more and hence the productivity of the company increases hence contributing to growth of the economy (Duncan & Giles 61-39). Moreover providing them with favourable and better public services makes them work harder. Employment advances the community and the peoples living standards. Local authorities The local authorities must be strengthened to improve on their services as they help in eradicating poverty and fighting income inequality. This will help to make the community broader and hence they will be in a point to participate in training, construct their infrastructure and look for employment (Nolan et al 2001). Recommendations Policies have been defined and it is time for them to be implemented to help in eradicating and combating poverty in the poor countries. From the policies above, it is evident that there is need for income equality even to the children in the community (Gough 748- 715). Inequality has also become a major contributor of many problems in the society today including poverty. There are some members of the society who are seen to be inferior and hence they are denied many rights in n community. Children are a good example of the secluded group in the society today. All the policies mentioned above are very important and they have to be defined properly and implemented to help eradicate poverty in poor countries (Persson, et al 621-600). Take an example of reducing taxes for children’s income. This is very vital as it will reduce dependency ratio in the society. Children will have an opportunity to cater for their basic needs without nagging the parents. As a result the parents will on the other hand concentrate on their business and improving their source of income. Provision of better living conditions, health care, education and proper infrastructure will be and added advantage to the society. It will enhance mobility, creativity and open opportunities for development in the society. Development will as a result bring change which will improve the living standards of the people living in the poor countries. Improving the living conditions of the people earning low or no income motivates them to work even harder (Judge et al, 579-567). Employment is another important policy to be implemented and it should be of the benefit to the whole society at large. Employment is the basis for a stable economy, and hence with high rate of unemployment comes inflation (Newman 1999). The policy of redistribution of wealth and excessive economy is also a very important policy. Equal distribution of resources leads to a healthy generation and hence the economy of the country grows. It enhances productivity as there is no inequality and discrimination against any tribe, race, religion or even gender. All the citizens are satisfied and when one is in problem, they join hands to help them out (Phillip, et al 2001). Conclusion In conclusion, from the findings above I have to learn that when there is equal income distribution, there will be equal distribution of resources and this will lead to improved working conditions and hence increased productivity. The health of the people will improve and thus their expenses on medication will reduce. Poverty in the poor countries will reduce and their standards of living will improve. This will lead to increased productivity and hence a boost in the economy of the country (Daly & Leonard 2002). 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