Program „Rodzina 500+” jako instrument redystrybucji dochodu

The governmental support program “Family 500+” can be treated as an instrument of income redistribution. Its purpose is to co-finance families with children with a monthly cash benefit, paid in cash, regardless of the income received, for each second and subsequent child. The article analyzes the impact of transfers from the program on income disparities and the extent of poverty. On the basis of data on poverty rates and income inequality measured by the Gini coefficient, it is stated that the program performs redistributive functions, which results in declining poverty, both extreme and relative in almost all types of households and socioeconomic groups, as well as decreasing the Gini coefficient. The stronger redistributive effect is, however, hampered by the too-even allocation of resources from the benefit. The program does not effectively solve the problems of any social group, leaving many people out of the target groups of support in extreme poverty.