in both cases money was earned. How about applying the exercise to someone who pays no taxes, and receives the benefit of my tax dollars for simply being in the position of earning less than me.
Actually I did. My example of helping a friend who loaned you money.
That said, I do not see anyone here actually arguing that whrther we call it a tax credit or subsidy, however they view each, results in the finances of the O&G companies we were discussing being any different either way, so it seems a moot point. We can agree to disagree on the terminology without it changing the end result.