It will definitely slow down innovation. Some projects / aspirations will come off the table completely. Mars? Forget about it. All your mars money will be treating AIDS/Malaria/Cancer/Whatever. All NASA and space exploration money will go to feeding poor people and refugees and all manner of charitable causes, these causes will only ever multiply ad infinitum. I think there is really only money for one or the other. You can have a comfy easy welfare state life, or you can explore and reach for the stars.
You can't do discount Mars, or space exploration on the cheap, you basically can't have both. Your welfare state will make it so that you don't ever really have enough money to actually do any kind of space exploration. Sure you can send cheap drones locally within the solar system, but that's all space exploration will ever be from now on.