A tax break and a subsidy are the same thing as far as taxpayers are concerned. As it turns out, tax breaks are considered more politically palatable, but the effect is the same--all taxpayers pay more money than they otherwise would have, to make up for lost revenue from the tax break.
Tax payers are not paying more, likely they are paying less. Hopefully the $1.2B in tax breaks leads to an overall net gain for Nevada (why else would they do it?)
The other option is Tesla builds elsewhere. At no point was there ever an option for Nevada to get the Tesla factory and NOT give tax breaks.
>At no point was there ever an option for Nevada to get the Tesla factory and NOT give tax breaks.
Because there are competing states which can offer tax breaks. But is it better for the US as a whole if states can give tax breaks to individual companies?