Broadly, 20% of GDP already goes on welfare [1]. Government tax take is about 40% of GDP [2], so about half the taxes that corporations "pay" [3] already go to

Broadly, 20% of GDP already goes on welfare [1]. Government tax take is about 40% of GDP [2], so about half the taxes that corporations "pay" [3] already go to poor people to spend on their products in some sense (if we neglect benefits-in-kind). I'm sure companies would love to be able to give poor people vouchers rather than paying their taxes but I don't think that's a great idea. This study is primarily saying that cash is great because it's fungible. [1]: https://data.oecd.org/socialexp/social-spending.htm https://data.oecd.org/socialexp/social-spending.htm [2]: https://data.oecd.org/gga/general-government-revenue.htm https://data.oecd.org/gga/general-government-revenue.htm [3]: scare quotes are because all taxes ultimately fall on human beings, whether that be through shareholdings (pensions), suppressed wages or higher prices.