re: #195 reine.de.tout

Some people in this country are taxed at a higher rate than others.
Does that mean the folks being taxed at a lower rate are being “subsidized”? I don’t think so. It just means they are taxed at a lower rate.

People aren’t taxed at different rates. Various levels of income are. Various types of income are. But people aren’t.

Now, subsidies would seem to be where the Gov’t gives money to something for nothing - like paying farmers to leave fields idle.

They also include ‘indirect subsidies’, which include things like tax breaks, negotiated trade agreements— i.e. getting another country to not import a bunch of its stuff here, so that people here will buy American— providing cheap insurance, providing debt forgiveness, providing help with exploration costs— which the US does a ton of— and many other things beyond direct subsidies.

“Tax breaks” are just that - breaks, not subsidies.

They’re both.

The use of the term ‘subsidy” to describe a process where government takes less from you than they do from someone else is just - odd, and well, it annoys me.

It’s not the least bit odd, it’s perfectly common economic terminology. I’m sorry that it annoys you, but if the government gives you a tax break when you install solar panels— then yes, they really are subsidizing solar panel use.