RentSeek

They’re* Stealing** Your Money

*
Both parties. Selection here is by size, never by author.
**
Actually it is all perfectly legal. That is the point, not the loophole.

Every entry here is lawful, enacted by Congress, and paid for out of general revenue. This tool ranks them by what they cost taxpayers each year, and by how narrowly the benefit concentrates once it lands. It takes no position on which party enacted what.

Four economists who agree on little else

Breaks markets
“People of the same trade seldom meet together … but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public.”
Adam Smith
Breaks government
“As a rule, regulation is acquired by the industry and is designed and operated primarily for its benefit.”
George Stigler
Breaks both
Organised groups grow better at capturing a share of national output than at increasing it.
Mancur Olson
Breaks both
Much of the wealth at the top is not a return on anything created, but a transfer obtained through political means.
Joseph Stiglitz
Transfers tracked
33
Federal only, FY2025 except where noted
Combined annual cost
$2.0T
Most recent published estimates
Flowing to concentrated capture
$1.2T
Cost weighted by concentration score

Who actually benefits

6 of 33 have a published income distribution

Share of the benefit going to a named income band, where JCT has actually published one. Sorted top-skewed to bottom-skewed. The other 27 transfers have no such figure to show.

Deduction for charitable contributions92%over $200,000Deduction for mortgage interest78%over $200,000Deduction for state and local taxes78%over $200,000Child Tax Credit21%over $200,000Exclusion of untaxed Social Security and railroad retirement benefits5%over $500,000Earned Income Tax Credit0%over $100,000
The most extreme entries, by three different measures

Annual taxpayer cost, largest first.

33 shown · $2.0T/yr combined