Tax incentives in favour of public utility in Switzerland, while they are subject to some debate in terms of amounts or rates, are generally not discussed as a public policy tool. This article, based on the literature on tax incentives for public purposes, would like to shed light on the issues at stake. To do this, we will first consider tax incentives for public purposes as a public policy tool, before examining the stakes of such a tool, in the light of public policy literature and political philosophy, but also from the point of view of political authorities, based on the Swiss case. We will see that, beyond these debates, many interventions - whether by interest groups, lawyers or parliamentarians - are promoting this tool. The question of reform proposals in this area will then be asked to see how far the concerns of political actors are from the reflections of economists, politicians and philosophers who have addressed these issues.