Fellow blogger Tim has suggested that solo parent beneficiaries are morally inferior to prostitutes. I think this is false.

Government forcibly takes from the productive – which is wrong but it doesn’t mean that it is wrong to receive from the government.

Everyone (or practically everyone) accepts money from the government. Consider these examples of government payouts:-

• Pensions
• Working For Families “tax credits”
• Kiwisaver “employer contribution”
• Student Allowance
• Unemployment Benefit
• Sickness Benefit
• Wages
• Contract payments
• Tax loopholes

Receiving money under the above situations is not in itself wrong and morally no different than receiving a Solo Parent Benefit.

Some people may be motivated to get on a benefit by laziness but laziness is not worse than prostitution.

Prostitution is itself necessarily wrong – receiving money from the government is not.

Beneficiaries are no more deserving of hate than prostitutes – and anger towards them is misdirected – it is the politicians and their supporters committing the unjust acts of theft.