In today’s economic climate more and more individuals and families are turning to the government for assistance. Many have never been on government assistance before.
These people are finding out that Ohio’s welfare system is broken. The system rewards bad behavior and discourages good behavior. Allow me to explain.
An American living anywhere other than Alaska or Hawaii is considered to be in poverty if he or she makes $10,830 or less a year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The guideline allows $3,740 a year for each additional family member. Any person or family making more than this amount is not considered in poverty.
With a little simple math, we can break this down into monthly information. An individual is in poverty if he or she makes less than $902.50 a month before taxes. After taxes, an individual could take home up to $812.25 per month. If an individual makes even a dollar more per month, the guidelines say he or she is not in poverty.
Ohio uses the federal poverty guidelines to determine who can qualify for state assistance. They allow assistance for people within certain income limits, which I believe is mostly fair. For example, food stamps are available to people making up to 130 percent of the federal poverty limit.
The problems start for families who make a little more than that percentage.
A single parent can bring home $1,341.65 per month after taxes and still qualify for food stamps. Let’s say that he or she receives $250 in grocery benefits a month. If this single parent earns an extra $50 a month from overtime or extra hours at work, he or she loses all food assistance benefits.
Put it this way. The extra $50 a month they earn adds up to $600 a year. The $250 benefit they lose adds up to $3,000 a year. This means a single parent would lose $2,400 worth of groceries because they worked a little harder. How can we expect someone to make such a sacrifice or earn that much more money at once? This policy discourages people from working hard.
But let’s say this single parent is not very hard working or works under the table doing unlicensed trade work, soliciting or dealing illegal substances. The parent earns extra income while keeping all government benefits. This behavior is not legal, but benefits are handed out just the same.
It seems to me that a good solution would involve higher accountability and a sliding scale of benefits for people on assistance. Unfortunately it may be difficult to change the rules while the system is dealing with needs they report have been rising since 2002.
If you can think of a way that we can change this, let me know. I’d love to work against the system.