Hallo.....aktually the thinking that the poor should not be
bothered with, and is a waste of money to help them, is not
uncommon.
However you should firstly remember why you pay tax. You pay tax to
the government, which represent the society, so you pay tax to the
society.
In other words, you pay tax for the embetterment of society, or put
in other words you pay tax to embetter other people, as well as
yourself in the process, for everyone.
It might be difficult to imagine how you can benefit and embetter
yourself by spending your money for the poor, compared to spending
on roads or buildings, for example.
The answer is externality, every disadvantaged person is actually
harming you. By helping them actually you are helping yourself by
letting them illuminate more positive externality, thus embettering
the society which you yourself also live in, and therefore gain
from. This is essentially not much different from spending on roads
or buildings.
If you worry about them spending on vices/ luxury, etc, keep in
mind that many governments including Singapore is very careful not
to encourage welfarism, Singapore has pretty tight policy with
measures in place, for instance the handout amount is just minimum
to get by, and where possible it includes other help such as job
training, etc.
So now you should keep these in mind, and come at peace with
yourself.
