Fifteen percent of the U.S. population, or more than 46 million, receive help through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Nearly half of all taxpayers pay no income tax, while nearly half of all Americans receive direct government support for income, food, housing, medical care, school lunches, etc. This makes strong incentives for those who pay no income taxes to press for more and higher benefits.
Last year, combined federal and state spending on means-tested welfare hit $927 billion.
Federal dependency programs should be redesigned to not just assist low-income individuals, but also move them out of dependency. The out-of-control growth of these programs virtually ensures their ultimate destruction, so we should act now.