It's not exactly the same, though. Bailout uses the money that government already has, and that could be used on something else. Tax break is using the money that you don't have yet - and, crucially, will only have if the company actually is there!
In Australia it was estimated that each auto job produces 6 other jobs through network effects [1]. All up that number would be fairly substantial and likely enough to justify some subsidies/bailouts.
[1] - https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Sen...
In 2008 and its aftermath the U.S. ran up huge budget deficits, and the Federal Reserve for the first time monetized enormous amounts of debt. That was all money that the government did not have.
Besides, money is fungible. It doesn't matter if an entity has the money or can quickly raise it, especially if when it has the money it was already earmarked (or soon was going to be) for some other particular purposes.