THE HIDDEN WELFARE-STATE, TAX EXPENDITURE AND SOCIAL-POLICY - A COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW

This article describes, discusses and presents information about tax e xpenditure and its relation to social policy. It stresses that the hid den welfare state strongly influences social policy and that only look ing at the direct provision of welfare goods may be misleading when ma king comparisons between countries. The article presents new figures o n tax expenditure in relation to social policy and does so in a compar ative perspective. It is argued that tax expenditure seems to have an upside down effect, but further research is needed to substantiate thi s. It concludes that tax expenditure strongly influences the provision , financing and delivery of social policy, and tax expenditure therefo re has to be more fully integrated into the analysis of the welfare st ate.