By BEN R. WILLIAMS
From as far back as I can remember, I’ve heard people griping about what other people buy with their food stamps.
“People shouldn’t be buying Cheetos with an EBT card!” they say. “SNAP shouldn’t cover sodas! Those are my tax dollars!”
A guy even went viral last week for expressing his shock and disgust that Grey Poupon mustard is covered by SNAP, presumably because those old ads with the two millionaires swapping a bottle of Grey Poupon between their limos was insanely effective. Common sense would dictate that the ultra-wealthy aren’t using mustard that costs four dollars; they probably have their own mustard us plebeians don’t even know about that’s only sold in Dubai and they have to kill an endangered bird to make every bottle.
With the current uncertainty regarding SNAP benefits amidst the government shutdown, I’ve been seeing more and more criticism of SNAP and its recipients, and with that in mind, I’d like to make a bold statement:
As a taxpayer, I absolutely don’t care how people spend the meager allotment they receive from SNAP. If someone wants to use the literal pennies that my tax dollars contribute to their SNAP to buy some potato chips, I say go for it, and I’m tired of the wildly unreasonable arguments people make against it.
“They should be spending their food stamps on healthier food!” Sure, but healthy food costs way more than junk food, and given that the Trump administration is actively dismantling American agriculture, produce is about to get even more expensive.
“They’re going out and eating lobster dinners on my dime!” Literally no one is doing that. SNAP benefits average $177 a month.
There are certain people, I find, who won’t be satisfied until everyone receiving welfare is wearing a barrel to the grocery store and buying a sack of Purina Poverty Chow, as though impoverished people must signal their struggle by dressing and acting like 1920s hobos.
The fact is, people in poverty look like the majority of their fellow Americans. Maybe that’s because most of us are just a couple paychecks and a bad break away from being impoverished ourselves.
Honestly, if my tax dollars go toward a box of Mallomars, that’s a best-case scenario. At least the Mallomars will bring someone momentary joy.
It’s the rest of my tax dollars I take issue with. I’d rather my tax money not be spent on the military-industrial complex, or masked ICE agents, or the President’s many golf trips, or tax breaks for the billionaires who have been feathering their nests with money that’s rightfully ours.
Right now, I don’t even know what my tax dollars are going toward. The federal government’s been shut down for a month and counting, and I know I’m not going to be getting a refund check. Didn’t this country famously fight a war about taxation without representation?
All of this is to say, I’m not making a hobby of looking in anyone else’s shopping cart anytime soon. Given the uncertainty we all face in present-day America, I hope others will return the kindness if I ever receive a gentle push and find myself on the other side of the poverty line.
