If food assistance were reorganized along the lines of Obamacare, government would own every farm, food processing plant, grocery and restaurant. All citizens would get a ration card specifying exactly what they are allowed to purchase and eat, and at what price. Liberals would think this is an excellent idea and an opportunity to impose the tofu diet.
The problems with SNAP/Food Stamps are well known. In any program, people will cheat to access benefits to which they are not entitled. The system should be better policed. The left also tries incessantly to expand dependency, so they make more and more people eligible when they get the chance. These problems are endemic in any welfare system that involves more than a pick and shovel, with a check at the end of a long, sweaty day. They are not unique to SNAP. They are more visible in SNAP because everyone sees the results of cheating in the checkout line at the grocery store. But that's an argument for better policing, not for the elimination of vouchered forms of assistance.
Better policing: if it were up to me, I'd treat all income transfers, including welfare benefits (and fringe benefits, btw), as taxable income. (The exception would be personal gifts, since that money has already been taxed when earned by the gift-giver.) To maintain eligibility, recipients would have to file a tax return on April 15, just like working people. The welfare folks would have to add up their SNAP, WIC, TANF, housing and other benefits and pay taxes if they are above the zero bracket amount, which would be adjusted in light of the expansion of the definition of income proposed here. As a practical matter, welfare recipients would be paying little if any taxes, but the reform would at least show them how much they are costing the taxpayers. And it would be an efficient means of cross-checking benefits with tax and other records, and policing fraud.
For the record: I’d voucher the public schools and government-run health insurance as well.
I don’t agree with your basic premise, but greatly envy your ability to post a reasoned, succinctly stated, and well organized argument for your proposition.
We need more of that kind of posting here on FR.
I’ve read that ~25% of Walmart and Target’s food sales are SNAP. It’s a gigantic crony capitalism redistribution scheme courtesy of the US taxpayer.
“The welfare folks would have to add up their SNAP, WIC, TANF, housing and other benefits and pay taxes “
This would result in a 70% or more democrat vote for the presidency.
Not excatly, there are lots of parallels between the ACA and SNAP.
The ACA didn't result in government taking over one hospital, clinic, doctor's office or insurance company. It's just that people are required to buy insurance (on the private market).
There are restrictions on what kind of insurance they can buy, just as there restrictions on what can be bought with food stamps.