Tax expenditures are not just any type of government spending.

Tax expenditures are not just any type of government spending. This is a step elected officials take as infrequently as they possibly can. This concept is exceedingly important in the context of tax expenditures.

But when evaluating this or any other tax expenditure we should not forget that non-recipients pay higher taxes because of them. None of the problems of tax expenditures are inherent.

There is, however, no requirement that tax expenditures have these characteristics. Simplicity is often used as an argument for tax expenditures.