Thursday, October 13, 2011

Food Stamp Rationing...without loopholes!

In Robert VerBrugger's End Food Stamp Feast commentary on National Review Online he replies to the federal government's desire to save money. VerBrugger believes one way of doing so is with a food stamp reform. Since funding comes from federal taxes, being able to control how food stamps are handled at state level would help cut down quite a bit as each state has different qualifications or loopholes in the system. It appears that while food stamps are needed for some, others are recieving the help without actual need for it. One instance occured with a man who won the lottery and distributed his money into investments which made it appear as though he had a low income, thus recieving food stamps. Another loophole used is to recieve help for utilities with as low as 1 buck written to their name which makes them eligible for food stamps as well. VerBrugger backs this up with statistics strewn throughout the article as well. So in controlling the eligibilty across the board (the entire country) we can save quite a bit of tax paying dollars that can be put to good use elsewhere.

I couldn't agree more with what Verbrugger is saying. I'll be honest just the other day I was in line behind a couple who were using the food stamp card. Once done with the transaction they continued with a seperate transaction, to pay for the clothing piled  up he opened up his wallet and pulled out a wad of 100 dollar bills. Clearly he wasn't hurting that bad if he was able to carry cash around like that. Now maybe I'm wrong for assuming he always has that kind of cash available but I can't help that the thought crossed my mind. Our taxes put in the food stamp benefit bracket should be used on those that really need the help, not those that found loopholes in our system. As I have said before I am all for helping someone in need but I do not want someone to use my tax paying dollars as a piggyback ride throughout life. It's important that we also realize that the money taken out of our checks is going to benefit more than one group as well...all in all let's help those who need help and make sure those that can be self efficient stay self efficient.

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