The Food-Stamp Crime Wave
The number of food-stamp recipients has soared to 44 million from 26 million in 2007. Not surprisingly, fraud and abuse are rampant..Millionaires are now legally entitled to collect food stamps as long as they have little or no monthly income. Thirty-five states have abolished asset tests for most food-stamp recipients. These and similar “paperwork reduction” reforms advocated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are turning the food-stamp program into a magnet for abuses and absurdities.
(Excerpt)
From the USDA website : “Thirty-five states have abolished asset test”
sounds like you can have a home and lot, but not more than $2,000 (or $3,000) in a bank account.
“Households may have $2,000 in countable resources, such as a bank account, or $3000 in countable resources if at least one person is age 60 or older, or is disabled. However, certain resources are NOT counted, such as a home and lot..”
So just go spend down your bank account and buy some 22” spinner rims for your Escalade, and you’ll be fine.
The worst part is that the folks who really need the program are being lumped in with the fraudsters. The justifiable resentment from the taxpaying public gets spread around to recipients in general because taxpayers can’t tell who’s deserving and who’s just gaming the system. The folks who need the support and are doing everything they can to get off it get tarred with the same brush as the folks who are content to rob they neighbor. That’s the worst part of this kind of fraud, IMHO. The truly deserving folks get hammered for the sins of the scammers.