transfer payment

noun

1

: a public expenditure made for a purpose (such as unemployment compensation) other than procuring goods or services

—usually used in plural

2

transfer payments plural : money (such as welfare payments) that is received by individuals and that is neither compensation for goods or services currently supplied nor income from investments

Examples of transfer payment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Fourth, in 2024, the central government will arrange transfer payments to local governments of more than 10 trillion yuan, of which balanced transfer payments will increase by 8.8%, and county-level basic financial guarantee mechanism reward and subsidy funds will increase by 8.6%. —Brendan Ahern, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024

The transfer payments are funded in part by taxpayers in rich blue areas. —Jim Vandehei, Axios, 11 Oct. 2024

Much of this is transfer payments, but trillions of dollars are general expenditures. —Jason Ma, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2024

Yet history has shown that economic growth reduces poverty (see China under Deng Xiaoping) far more successfully than welfare transfer payments (see the U.S. war on poverty or the European welfare state). —Grover G. Norquist, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2012

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1945, in the meaning defined at sense 1