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Must Governments Keep Bad Promises?
Author(s) -
ASCHHEIM JOSEPH
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0270.1982.tb01418.x
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , civil servants , state (computer science) , tax revenue , revenue , business , index (typography) , public economics , economics , government revenue , economic policy , law and economics , finance , law , political science , politics , philosophy , linguistics , algorithm , world wide web , computer science
Governments can buy votes by mortgaging future tax revenue through promises of state pensions. The Thatcher Government's failure to rescind index‐linked pensions for civil servants increases the potential tax burden on future generations. To buy today's votes with tomorrow's money is a promise government is not morally required to keep.