Inequality minimising subsidy and taxation

We address the problem of procuring a certain amount of tax from the individuals in a society together with allocating a specific quantity of subsidy to the same set of individuals in an inequality minimising manner, where the tax and subsidy sizes need not be the same. If the combined tax-subsidy schedule does not modify the aggregate income, then Fei’s (Econometrica 49:869–881, 1981) inequality minimising solution for a balanced budget plan becomes a particular case of our tax-subsidy program, considered in a more general and practical situation in which the subsidy and tax aggregates may not be equal.