State Variations in the Food Stamp Benefit Reduction Rate for Earnings: Cross-Program Effects from TANF and SSI Cash Assistance
By Kenneth Hanson and Margaret Andrews
Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-46) 36 pp,
March 2009
The Food Stamp Program reduces benefits to households as their earnings rise. This
reduction is affected by household participation in other Government assistance programs
(cross-program effects) and by the wide variation in State-specific reduction rates for
earnings in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This study shows that,
for food stamp recipients who also received cash benefits through TANF in 2005, an
extra dollar of earnings led to a change in food stamp benefits ranging from a reduction
of 36 cents to an increase of 9 cents. On average across all States, the overall reduction
rate for food stamp benefits and TANF cash benefits was about 70 percent, or about
double the benefit reduction rate for a household that received only food stamp benefits.
Even with this high benefit reduction rate, households received larger net incomes
by working and earning income. Cross-program effects and State-level variability in
food stamp benefits are important considerations in integrating Government assistance
programs into a support system for low-income households.
Keywords: Food Stamp Program benefit formula; Effective Benefit Reduction Rates;
food stamp benefit effects from TANF earning deductions, effective tax rates, ERS, USDA
In this report ... Chapters are
in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Charts and graphs (in .png format) from this report are available in the .zip file listed below. The .zip file also contains a document (readme.txt) that lists the name and title of each chart or graph file.
Order this report (stock #EIB-46)
Updated date: March 24, 2009
|
