Nobody shoul be "rewarded" for anything, no matter how hard they work, unless those who reward do it completely of their free will. If i take a baseball bat and swing it against a tree all day, should i be rewarded for my hard work ? No.
The only thing that matters is freedom from force. All problems stem, in one way or another, from the use of government force to twist human incentives. This always leads to distortions in the economy .. This always leads to creating more dependant poor and rich people being able to buy of politicians to get even richer.