" Even if they pay little in taxes, it's offset by things like earned income credit"
EIC is due to having kids. You'd have to earn minimum wage and work only half-time to qualify without a kid. IOW, a four-figure income.
Also, when we were kids, if someone was on EIC (called welfare back then) the transaction wasn't on form 1040. So the folks back then were counted as "paying taxes", even if they got 100 bucks a month because they had three kids.
That same Family today is scored as "not paying taxes". In other words, we've moved the goal posts by putting all kinds of child-rearing subsidies onto the 1040. The EIC, CTC, ACTC, AOC, CCC, etc. All for the specific reason of passing the tax break on Wednesday, and complaining that people "don't pay taxes" on Thursday.
They expected people to fall for it ... and you did.
"Did Trump take taxpayer money? "
He's going to take the write-off, and leave the US debt to the taxpayers.
So...YES.