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Three Myths About SNAP and “Food Stamps” Debunked

Three Myths About SNAP and “Food Stamps” Debunked
Illustration by Angelica Alzona.

If you believe certain memes and rumors, it might sound like people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known under its previous name, the Food Stamp Program, are using taxpayer dollars to buy tons of junk food and enjoy extra cash while the rest of us have to work for our money. That’s not true, though.

People who receive SNAP benefits aren’t riding high on some mythical hog, and that’s important to understand when lawmakers are proposing policy that assumes they are—and when you’re tempted to make a snap judgment about the family in front of you in line at the grocery store. Let’s set the record straight.

Myth: People on SNAP Eat More Junk Food Than Everyone Else

At first, it sounds pretty extravagant that people on SNAP spend a huge chunk of their money on sugar-sweetened beverages, like soda, more than almost any other category of food. But that’s also true of people who aren’t on SNAP.

SNAP households spent five percent of their money on soda, compared to four percent of non-SNAP households. (Non-SNAP families have a higher total budget, too.) Both types of households make similar expenditures on cookies, salty snacks, and desserts like ice cream. These results come from a USDA report that collected data on purchases from one major grocery retailer in 2011. The report summarizes:

There were no major differences in the expenditure patterns of SNAP and non-SNAP households, no matter how the data were categorized.

(SNAP already prohibits its benefits being used for alcohol, tobacco, hot foods, and non-food products like cleaning supplies, so those were not included in the study.)

“There seems to be this idea that just because you’re receiving food assistance benefits, you stop having cravings,” says Marissa Evans, who covers health and human services policy for the Texas Tribune. She points out that the SNAP program already tries to nudge people toward healthier choices, for example making your SNAP dollar go farther when you shop at farmer’s markets.

If you’re going to make judgments about what SNAP beneficiaries are eating, be prepared to make the same judgments about everyone else. For example, if you think the government should be acting to limit what people who receive SNAP can eat, consider whether you’d be in favor of similar government intervention for other households—like, for example, a junk food tax. These aren’t necessarily bad ideas, but class prejudices may influence how we think about them.

Myth: People on SNAP Need to Get a Job

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People on SNAP are often employed; their jobs just don’t pay well. For example, one of Evans’s recent stories introduced her to state workers who receive SNAP benefits because their salaries just aren’t enough to make ends meet.

When unemployed people are on SNAP, it’s often because they are disabled, children, or elderly. In most cases, people who can work must work or be actively looking for work to be eligible for benefits. Able-bodied adults without dependents have the strictest requirements of all, and can only receive benefits for three months out of three years unless they are working at least 20 hours a week.

Myth: SNAP Fraud Is Common

SNAP fraud rates are extremely low. Every year, states thoroughly evaluate a sample of their SNAP accounts to determine rates of fraud and errors; they also investigate trafficking (selling benefit cards for cash). And it turns out, less than one percent of SNAP benefits go to people who should have been considered ineligible.

In 2014, for example, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the government overpaid 3.66 percent of benefits, and underpaid 0.69 percent. States calculated that 60 percent of the overpayments were bureaucratic errors and not the recipients’ fault. The government not only aggressively monitors fraud rates and investigates suspect cases, they actually get the money back in many cases—to the tune of $340 million in 2014.

The SNAP budget is huge, so one percent is still a lot of money—nearly a billion dollars, in a program with a budget of $74 billion. But that pales in comparison to other types of fraud. For example, the same CBPP report also gives the corresponding numbers for the IRS: 18.6 percent of people don’t file their taxes correctly, resulting in a loss of $458 billion for the government.

And yet, the myth of rampant SNAP fraud persists, with lawmakers proposing new rules, such as requiring a photo on benefit cards, that are unlikely to help. As the CBPP report points out, anyone in a beneficiary’s family is allowed to use a card, and most trafficking of benefits occurs at crooked stores that aren’t going to care whose photo is on the card anyway.

SNAP lifted 4.7 million people out of poverty in 2014, and helps 47 million Americans eat every year—so it’s a shame when myths about the program turn it into a political target.