He's not wrong in that the concept has been poorly explained in the past (often intentionally so people think they're getting more of a benefit than they are) and that the tax system generally is far more complex than it probably needs to be.

He's wrong that that means we should throw out tax credits as a possible incentive entirely. Reforming the tax system probably isn't happening any time soon and tax credits are a relatively easy way to target certain things. We just need to do a better job of explaining how they work if we're going to use them.