Tax credits are not and cannot ever be actual welfare if they aren't money in hand. There's definitely a "wish it was welfare" aspect to many of the tax credits

Tax credits are not and cannot ever be actual welfare if they aren't money in hand. There's definitely a "wish it was welfare" aspect to many of the tax credits in that they supposedly help groups like families (and, uh, corporations) get a lower tax rate, but most tax credits really are just an indication that the base tax rates aren't correctly-sized versus societal needs and could be deeply simplified. There is indeed a lot of inertia from the "wish it was welfare" feeling giving a lot of reasons for people (and corporations, lol) to claw for keeping many of the tax credits in play because it does save them money in a noticeable way to their bottom line that also makes them feel like they "deserve it" (for "hard work" or other "earned" reasons) and that could be greatly simplified indeed by, I don't know, maybe correctly investing in real welfare projects instead.