The paper analyses how perceptions of government quality – in terms of impartialityand efficiency – impact on attitudes to taxes and social spending. It builds on data fromthe European Social Survey 2008 from 29 European countries. The paper shows alarge degree of congruence between expert-based judgments and the general public’sperceptions of the quality of government. It also shows that the quality of governmenthas a clear, independent effect on attitudes to taxes and spending, so that people whoperceive institutions as efficient and fair want higher taxes and spending. But governmentquality also conditions the impact of egalitarianism on attitudes to taxes and spending: inhigh-quality-of-government egalitarianism has a clearly stronger impact on these attitudes.It is concluded that government quality is an important and so far neglected factor inexplaining attitudes to welfare policies.