The federal government is quite explicit about using taxes to encourage the formation of wealth. There are tax breaks for investment (like capital gains and dividends), for savings (like Roth IRAs and health-savings accounts), and for homeownership. It’s easy to make an argument for each specific policy. Who wants to punish investment? Or raid retirement accounts? Or discourage saving for health care and housing?

But this national wealth-creation policy has several negative side effects. Since tax benefits are most useful for people with taxable income, U.S. wealth-creation policy is predominantly for people who already have wealth. These high-income households don’t consider their tax benefits to be a form of government policy at all. For example, 60 percent of people who claim the MID say they have never used any government program, ever. As a result, rich households can be skeptical of public-housing policies while benefiting from a $71 billion annual tax benefit which is, functionally, a public-housing policy for the rich. As Desmond writes, “a 15-story public housing tower and a mortgaged suburban home are both government-subsidized, but only one looks (and feels) that way.” In short, an asset-building, wealth-creation, or welfare policy that’s run through the tax code can hurt the overall push for more direct forms of welfare—like simply giving money to the poor.