Government programs for upper-income families or wealthy individuals are called "tax incentives" or "write- offs," while those for working Americans are called "handouts" and "poverty programs."
Time and again, we give handouts to the more well-off in the form of health care and housing write-offs—and we pretend that we are not giving away public monies. We call these credits write-offs or subsidies. And like the child tax credit, we aren’t talking about small sums. Two-thirds of the $140 billion in annual health care tax subsidies and most of the $70-$80 billion in pension plan subsidies go to higher-income Americans. Likewise, America provides $61 billion in housing subsidies to high and middle-income families in the form of mortgage deductions. This still leaves aside the estimated $125 billion a year that the federal government provides in corporate welfare in the form of tax abatements, price supports, tax shelters and subsidies.
