Two ways to improve SNAP benefits without significant government intervention

My Libertarian friends, by and large, don't like the idea of SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits.  In a non-corporatized society I probably wouldn't, either, but we don't live in such.  So until we take away the BILLIONS in corporate welfare I'm not going to spend my time decrying the people getting pennies out of the other end of the system.  As we improve the overall economic system into a true non-capitalist free-market affair, the need or even the demand for things like SNAP will die along with the  protected oil leases and corporate personal immunity from prosecution.

Until then ...

IDEA NUMBER ONE came as a result of this article about how "Double Bucks" can be used to stretch the food stamp benefits of people who choose to shop in farmer's markets.

Basically what happens is that the farmer's market gets a grant (not my preference) or a donation (bingo) that allows it to double the buying power of SNAP benefits spent on fresh produce.  You come in and give the people behind the counter, say, $25 worth from your EBT card and they give you $50 worth of tokens that can be redeemed anywhere in the farmer's market for their products.

This has several key benefits:  (1) obviously, it stretches the food dollar of recipients; but also (2) it allows them a way around the "end of month" evaporation of the funds on an EBT card.  You could come in on the last day of the month with $30 left that would expire when you got your next benefits; the cashier would cash out those benefits with $60 in tokens that don't necessarily have to be spent that day, so you could keep the benefit going across months.

There is also (3) (and a lot of my non-libertarian friends may wonder about this one)--this process improves the black/gray market salability of SNAP benefits.  Many people find the need to convert their SNAP benefits by selling them for cash at a 50% discount so that they can pay their electric bills, or whatever.  This raises the potential that--assuming they can find somebody else (yuppie suburban) who wants discounted fresh veggies, they pull off the following:  take $30 in for $60 in farmers' market token and then sell the $60 in tokens for $30 in cash.  I know, I know--there will a lot of people out there horrified at the thought that I am advocating gaming the system, but I have no moral qualms about people doing so on this level--particularly if it keeps the lights on.

(Yeah, I know--somebody's going to pipe up with "but what about the people who use that money to buy drugs or booze?"  Not my problem.  Those people are already locked in their own self-destructive spirals, and I'm not minded to penalize everybody because a few people are determined to take themselves out of the gene pool.)

IDEA NUMBER TWO is one I got about three months ago when I was speaking at the Delaware Food Bank.  Here's the thing:  in the world of EBT cards and accounts there is no reason (or there should not be) that the government cannot have it set up so that I can donate cash directly to a specific person's EBT card.  There are a lot of people out there with relatives and friends receiving SNAP who would like to help, but are unwilling to send them a lot of cash only to find it squandered at Taco Bell or buying lottery cards.  I know--I've had an adult daughter on SNAP, and I would love to have been able to put money on her card that had at least the minimal set of restrictions that SNAP comes with.

(Again:  it's not perfect.  If somebody wants to sell those benefits for cash, I can't stop them as a donor.  But that's on you as donor to make a personal judgment about that particular risk.  Here's my yardstick:  I am unwilling to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.  If the majority of people receiving SNAP would use such additional funds that friends or relative might donate, then I consider the program a success.)

Moreover, I'd make 50% of all the money that any individual donates to another individual function as a Federal tax credit.

You would probably have to take a look at what Wal-Mart or McDonalds might attempt--paying part or all of salaries in EBT additional benefits in order to get a tax credit for just paying salaries, but I think that could be handled.