March 6, 2025 1:20PM # 10 Reasons to Cut Corporate Welfare By [Chris Edwards](https://www.cato.org/people/chris-edwards) --- SHARE Listen to this article Generated with [ ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/) AI technology. Loading the [Elevenlabs Text to Speech](https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech) AudioNative Player... Congress should cut federal spending to reduce massive budget deficits. One target for reform should be business subsidies—often called corporate welfare—which total $181 billion a year, according to a [new Cato study](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/corporate-welfare-federal-budget-0). My [article at *National Review*](https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/03/will-republicans-cut-corporate-welfare/) today summarizes 10 reasons to cut corporate welfare in addition to the taxpayer cost. Corporate welfare 1. is central planning, which does not work. 2. creates collateral damage on the economy. 3. divorces businesses from the needs of consumers. 4. comes loaded with regulations that raise costs. 5. displaces market-based funding and entrepreneurship. 6. spawns wasteful bureaucracies of high-paid lawyers. 7. is plagued by fraud and abuse. 8. violates the American promise of equal justice under the law. 9. encourages political corruption. 10. generates public disgust at politicians and big business. ##### Related Tags [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).