Research shows that a country's level of income inequality is linked to bad outcomes. Infant mortality, drug use, prison population, mental illness, high school drop outs, obesity, levels of distrust and homicide rates all increase proportionately to the level of income inequality.
From Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett‘s book, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better: “Th[e] dissatisfaction [measured in this data is] a cost which the rich impose on the rest of society.”
[This is] a clear warning for those who might want to place low public expenditure and taxation at the top of their priorities. If you fail to avoid high inequality, you will need more prison and more police. You will have to deal with higher rates of mental illness, drug abuse and every other kind of problems. If keeping taxes and benefits down leads to wider income differences, the need to deal with ensuing social ills may force you to raise public expenditure to cope.
