tax expenditures have been used in a variety countries to support specific industries. The West German government relied heavily on tax breaks to promote specific industrial sectors as a means of economic recovery following World War II. The tax breaks were concentrated on industries including steel and energy production and mining allocating them 'exceptionally large depreciation allowances' on new investment for tax purposes, effectively significantly reducing their 'profits' for taxation purposes - on the condition that any gains went into investment rather than being passed on to shareholders (Shonfield, 1965:282). This procedure offered particularly strong incentives for investment in West Germany because of the otherwise high tax rates prevailing at that time (ibid.).