Everyone has heard stories of the abuse of the food stamp program. The program is a lifeline for many deserving families. My family had to use them when I was young.
I was a cashier 20 years ago and I remember seeing the abuse - people using my tax money (food stamps) to buy food that I couldn't afford. There was really no way to track this back in those days. I also remember the first of the month when people stood around the front to buy groceries for people - exchanging food stamps for cash at 50% discount.
Today's modern grocery stores have Point of Sale systems that track every item purchased as well as the form of payment including EBT number. Govt should require this information for EBT transactions to id fraud and allocate money to truly needy people.