as that is money going to poor people instead of themselves

You need to look no further than the GOP obsession with cutting government programs to back this up. The "money going to" is in fact taxes and so if government programs are cut Republicans can also further reduce taxation on themselves and the ultra wealthy without hurting the deficit as much. They couldn't possibly care less about government assistance programs because they don't need them, it's just the "poors" that do and we all know the Republicans mindset on that: get good or die, loser. Let the church do charity, but don't "force me" to care about you.