People invest money to make money.
An abusive tax shelter offers you inflated tax savings on your IRS tax return based on large tax write offs and tax credits. The tax write offs and tax credits on your IRS tax return are often out of proportion to your investment. An abusive tax shelter exists solely to reduce tax on your IRS tax return, and thus there is no real economic benefit. A legitimate tax shelter exists to reduce tax fairly and also produce income on your IRS tax return. As in any investment, a real tax shelter involves risks, while an abusive tax shelter often involves little risk, despite outward appearances.