Reddit mentions of Should Differences in Income and Wealth Matter?: Volume 19, Part 1 (Social Philosophy and Policy) (v. 19)

>charitable giving will never be as reliable as state provided welfare

Do you have evidence for this? This is a common assertion from welfare-state supporters -- along with claims that state-provided welfare was created as a response to charities being inadequate -- however there isn't any real empirical evidence to support it. It seems to stem from a wealth of conjectural evidence put forth by politicians for a good part of the 20th century -- from about 1910-1960 for various welfare state policies.

Gathering data to support either the adequacy or inadequacy of private charity in the absence of state welfare is difficult, as there are very few instances where some level of both systems was not present. However, Frederic Almy did put together the most comprehensive empirical study on the subject (in the early 1900's), and what he found was that in cities with little to no government safety net, private charity contributions rose to meet the demand, and that in cities with more government safety net programs, private charity funds were much lower and less effective.

Anecdotally, you can see a similar reaction in modern times, such as when PBS and Planned Parenthood were under a seemingly imminent threat of drastic funding cuts, and both consequently saw the biggest spike in private donations in the history of either institution -- enough to offset the looming budget cuts (which actually did not occur in either case).

Overall, this kind of claim can seem intuitive, however there isn't really any evidence to back it up -- in most cases state welfare programs were enacted for political, not rational or empirical, reasons.

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The source for the Almy study is located in this book. I read it many years ago in college, has some other good essays as well.