The problems we now face with mass inequity are more about our lack of enforcement of existing anti-trust legislation than anything else. We do not have a laissez-faire, free-market economy anymore, as the levers of power were long since seized by the oil powers (Rockefellers) working often, but not always, in concert with other "robber barons" of the gilded age to turn government into their private power tool.
As difficult as it may be, the real solutions lie not in government (other than the aforementioned lack of monopoly enforcement) but with churches, extended families, and neighbors helping neighbors. We must radically shrink the tax burden so that these entities will have the resources to do what they rightly ought to be doing.
Your suggestion could be a major helpful part of a realignment of entitlement priorities on the gradual path back towards sanity, where the federal behemoth does NOT control all things.