more on low-income differentiation

My earlier post about the behavioural motivation of low-income tax exempt status is fairly accurately paralleled in a paper titled '"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" - An Attempt to Boost Self-Esteem Through Art' by Lori R. Cohen and Dr. Camillo Zacchia, February 16, 1995. Here is a particularly pertinent exerpt:

Coupled with their own findings, Rosenberg et. al. believe [there is] a countervailing relationship between self-esteem and delinquency: low self-esteem leads a person towards delinquent behaviour, and the delinquent behaviour in turn boosts that person's self-esteem. This is especially true with boys of lower socio-economic status (Rosenberg & Rosenberg, 1978; Rosenberg et. al. 1989).
The turn to delinquency is attributed to the self-esteem motive and a need for the approval of others; adolescents turn to delinquency in order to gain peer approval and to excel at something, even if that "something" is angering their teachers (Rosenberg et. al., 1989). In their article about "parental mattering", Rosenberg & McCullogh (1981) write:

The angry reaction of [the delinquent's] teachers, his parents, and the police are all vivid testimony to the fact that he makes a difference, that he counts; and this sense of significance is intensified by the support of his delinquent peers who value his contribution to the group's collective purpose.... Thus, one reason for delinquency may be that it makes unimportant people feel important (p. 173).

The self-esteem motive drives adolescents with low self-esteem to find a way to feel good about themselves; they justify whatever they do as "right". If they drop out of school it is because they are "too cool" for school. They will derive their self-esteem from whatever earns them praise or whatever they find they excel at, even if it is not "socially acceptable".
If low academic achievement can be used as a predictor of low self-esteem and potential delinquency, it would be expedient to enhance student's academic self-esteem in order to avoid future problems of delinquency and drop-out. Schools could try to step in at the crucial time of grades 7 and 8 and try to boost self-esteem in a positive way.

The author reports an earlier finding that "self-esteem does not bring success, rather, successes develop self-esteem." With that in mind, I believe paying income taxes is a definite indicator of social success (though nobody wants to admit it), and that being exempt unconsciously indicates social failure, affecting one's self-esteem. The exempt individual then seeks to rebuild self-esteem within his/her new social group, likely resorting to some socially delinquent behaviour. This in turn will affect the climate inside the home, and the cultural differences will be amplified with each new generation.
My vision is that everybody in our society earns what they can and must contribute accordingly. We should not discard nor discount the willingness and abilities of any group; labelling them as "low-income canadians" and giving them special treatment and hand-outs on that basis merely insults their pride, increases their feeling of dependence and reduces their feeling of control. Their only anchor for self-esteem becomes retaliation.

Hmm. That's all very similar to my views on world peace...