ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the emergence of the importance of inequalities in private money income if the pattern of inequality associated with public provision is viewed as a whole. For any strategy of equality to succeed, it has to tackle these inequalities directly. The chapter discusses the basis of an ideology which lies behind these inequalities. The ideology of inequality comprises two, rather different, sets of beliefs. One is that the present structure of inequalities is basically fair, that people deserve the income they receive, and that, by and large, the rich are deserving and the poor undeserving. The first, and perhaps most important, issue to tackle is whether the current distribution of economic resources is fair or just. The supposed trade-off between equality and economic growth is one of the major weapons in the non-egalitarian's armoury. There is no theoretical reason for supposing that high income tax rates necessarily discourage work effort.
