Means Test is a policy for the provision of social assistance or services which determines access by considering whether the applicant has the means to provide for the service from their own resources. Means test is an official inquiry into an applicant's private resources, determining or limiting a grant or allowance of money from public funds. Subject a person to a means test and assess a grant by a means test. Means-testable is subject to a means test. Legal aid in most provinces, for example, is means tested; legal aid is provided without charge to those unable to pay while others pay part or all of the cost of the service.
A policy of universality is opposed to this and is one in which all citizen have a right to assistance or service without charge. There is a growing tendency towards means tests, however, in the past, the ‘baby bonus’ was offered to all mothers of children, and health care is now offered to all citizens without charge regardless of their income. Old age income support is now ‘clawed back’ from seniors with incomes over a certain amount, for example, and in the future will only be given to those with income below a set amount.
Do the ends justify the means test?
Leta, David E., ALM Media, Inc. The National Law Journal.
Abstract: HR 3150, the bankruptcy reform bill passed by the House of Representatives, bars
access to Chapter 7 to many debtors with the future income to pay creditors, and to obtain
discharges, these debtors would have to file repayment plans under Chapter 13. Supporters
of this bill argue that the former system allows individual debtors to avoid taking enough
personal responsibility for their financial problems, and the bill is backed by the
consumer credit and lending industries. The bill adopts "means testing" for
Chapter 7, which has never been part of the Bankruptcy Code.
The universal means test - Economist Newspaper Ltd., The
Economist (UK).
Abstract: Welfare reform in the United Kingdom is increasingly geared toward means
testing. The welfare state was originally seen as providing everyone with benefits, with
everyone paying in contributions. Means testing can give rise to poverty traps and may be
seen as humiliating. The Labor party is divided on this issue. Social insurance is
expensive, and this means that it is difficult both to provide help for the needy, and to
keep taxes at a politically acceptable level.
Living with the Means Test
Charles Jordan Tabb, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Law
Jillian McClelland, University of Illinois College of Law.
The heart of the consumer debtor crackdown came in the adoption of a strict means test as
a method of proving abuse. This article explores the impact of the means test on the
players in the bankruptcy system. First, we discuss abuse testing in the Bankruptcy Code,
and note particularly the influence that the consumer credit lending industry exercised in
bringing about the 2005 Amendments. Failing or passing the means test is not the end of the story, of course.
From there, we consider how a debtor can rebut the presumption of abuse should he fail the
means test, and how abuse may nonetheless be found should he pass. We observe that new
procedural provisions will add teeth to the means test determination; specifically,
through required trustee reports and abuse motions.
Does the Owner-Occupier Exemption from the Pensions Means
Test Affect Housing Choice of the Elderly? Evidence from Australia - Renuka Sane, John
Piggott, University of New South Wales - Australian School of Business - School of
Economics.
Abstract: Many developed economies offer the elderly a means tested pension; in most cases
the owner occupied home receives preferential treatment. We study
the impacts of the owner occupied exemption for residential choice among Australia's
elderly, many of whom enjoy access to a means tested age pension, by estimating a model of
trade-down behaviour conditional on mobility, using the Household, Income and Labour
Dynamics (HILDA) data set spanning 5 years from Australia. Results suggest that the
exemption of the owner-occupied home in the age pension means test generates sticky
trade-down behaviour, consistent with resource misallocation.
Economic Impact of a Proposed AGI Means Test on
Representative Crop Farms
Richardson, James W., Outlaw, Joe L., Raulston, J. Marc - Texas A&M University.
Abstract: The Administration has proposed revising the AGI means test for eligibility to
farm program payments. The 2002 farm bill excludes producers from farm program payments
(CCP, DP, and MLG/LDP) if their average adjusted gross income (AGI) for three preceding
years exceeds $2.5 million and less than 75% of their AGI comes from farming, ranching or
forestry operations. The revised means test would reduce the AGI cut-off to $200,000 and
repeal the 75% exclusion.