Provided that social security systems are essentially funded through income tax, basic protection can be provided in all areas of social risks and this can be justified as being fair and equitable. It meets the condition of guaranteeing universal basic rights and can be legitimatized on the basic of the normative egalitarian theory of justice. Provided that the affected persons are aware, early in their life course, of the approximate type of claim and the amount of social security benefit they are entitled to, such a system of equal basic protection fulfils the necessary standards of justice, if adequate employment can also be guaranteed simultaneously. Under such conditions, it can be left to the concerned individuals to decide for themselves if, to what extent, and in what way they would like to insure themselves against risks, beyond the minimum social standards guaranteed by the state. Such a welfare strategy fulfils the normative requirements of a balanced relationship between rights and individual responsibility for self in the context of the minimum conditions of social citizenship.