How big is the US welfare state? Bigger than you think! In Europe, governments subsidize industry, and provide healthcare and day-care, through high taxes. Here we do the same thing, but with special (charitable, medical) deductions, (childcare) tax credits and exemptions. Adding back these items (totaling $600 billion) increases government spending by 20%! This puts us behind Sweden, but ahead of many others and above the European average.