No, you misunderstand.
When you asked, "Not requiring payment is not financial assistance?," my response was to ask, "Payment for what?" What was given, for which payment normally would have been required?
For "not requiring payment" to be considered "financial assistance," there would logically have to have been something received. For example, when a university enrolls a student in classes and forgives some or all of the normal tuition, that student is said to have received financial assistance. The student receives the privileges of attending classes.
So, again, payment for what? What benefit was received for which there would normally be an obligation to pay?
If a schoolyard bully takes the lunch money from four kids including yours every day for a month, is it financial assistance to your kid if he decides to stop taking it from yours? Is the bully subsidizing your kid's lunch by letting him keep his lunch money?
The benefit is an advantage in a competitive market. Ethanol competes with gasoline which has the taxes. They are given an economic advantage that market that other conventional and unconventional processes do not have.