I believe tax breaks don't show up as government spending. If for example Boeing is given a billion dollar tax break, then the government has a billion dollars loss and Boeing has a billion dollars more. But that won't show up as a billion dollars going to the government, and then spent on Boeing, even though that is exactly what is happening.
I suspect that if tax breaks were accounted for, then government spending would be higher. It looks like US corporate welfare is around $200bn/year, although there are many larger estimates out there (eg count the banking bailouts). I haven't seen numbers for personal tax breaks, but adding them will make the number larger.
I suspect that if tax breaks were accounted for, then government spending would be higher. It looks like US corporate welfare is around $200bn/year, although there are many larger estimates out there (eg count the banking bailouts). I haven't seen numbers for personal tax breaks, but adding them will make the number larger.