So what you are saying is that if the government gives you a some money and labels it ”income tax break" that's good, but if they label it "something else", that's bad? To me, since money is fungible, it's the same thing.
You are correct, though, that Megacorp pays for your insurance in pre-tax dollars (most companies do a little accounting trick which allows you to pay your share indirectly in pre-tax dollars too). It's not clear to me why you think that break should not be extended to some (or all!) working and retired people in the individual market.* I do agree with you that everyone is entitled to equal treatment, but because of the way we pay taxes in different buckets with labels like "FICA", "sales", and "income", it wouldn't be fair to give a break only to people with most of their taxes in the "income" bucket (aka rich people) and not the people who pay most of their taxes in the other buckets. If it makes you feel better, except for the very poor and the very rich who both pay a lower percentage of taxes, those of us in the working-poor to working-rich income categories pay the same percentage in total taxes.
* Throughout my working life I always seemed to have a colleague or two whose work habits strongly resembled a retired person.
You are correct, though, that Megacorp pays for your insurance in pre-tax dollars (most companies do a little accounting trick which allows you to pay your share indirectly in pre-tax dollars too). It's not clear to me why you think that break should not be extended to some (or all!) working and retired people in the individual market.* I do agree with you that everyone is entitled to equal treatment, but because of the way we pay taxes in different buckets with labels like "FICA", "sales", and "income", it wouldn't be fair to give a break only to people with most of their taxes in the "income" bucket (aka rich people) and not the people who pay most of their taxes in the other buckets. If it makes you feel better, except for the very poor and the very rich who both pay a lower percentage of taxes, those of us in the working-poor to working-rich income categories pay the same percentage in total taxes.
* Throughout my working life I always seemed to have a colleague or two whose work habits strongly resembled a retired person.