National or regional government provides a range of public services to its residents, for example, public housing, social security, health care, and social care, and these services are the one referred to as social services. They can either be state or federally funded depending on the budget.
The Texas Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program was formerly known as Aid to Families with Children (ADFC). The purpose of this program is to provide support service in terms of medical and financial assistance parents or relatives living with needy dependent children. Households found to be eligible for the TANF program usually receive cash and medical benefits monthly. Being a cash demanding exercise, the funding of TANF program comes from the state fund, where even families with both parents unemployed still get to benefit from the program so as to ensure no child gets to be deprived of parental support because of unemployment or underemployment (Benefits.Gov, par. 1). For one to qualify for the program he or she must be a Texas resident, a US national, with low income (underemployed) or unemployed, and also, can either have the responsibility of taking care of a child aged 19 years and below, or pregnant (Benefits.Gov, par. 2). With such factors, then one becomes a beneficiary of the funding.
Texas Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) comes in as a way of helping out citizens be able to meet the cost of purchasing nutritious food even when their capital has been severely depleted by incurred expenses such as utilities, rent, childcare, and transportation (Benefits.Gov, par. 1). It is a role played by the Texas Health and Human Service Commission (HHSC), which offers help that we now call SNAP, thus, helping feed Texas’ hundreds of thousands of families each month. Unlike the TANF, which is state funded, the SNAP program, hence, federally funded allows families of low income status afford purchasing from local food stores nutritious food. The program’s assistance is available to all who are qualified be it the single adults, families, or the elderly all one has to do is be a resident of Texas and must apply in their respective residential county.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) establishes the following information must be given for eligibility to be established, namely; Citizenship, resources, employment services, residence, income, work requirement (for individuals age 18-50), and Social Security Numbers. For one to qualify, income level is compared and weighed with household size and where the given income is deemed low, for example, where income reads below $ 3000 yet it’s a family of seven with the five being children, disabled, or the elderly age 60 and over then such a family qualifies (Benefits.Gov, par. 3).
Low tax economy strives to ensure that its citizens get to enjoy services such as transport, housing, healthcare, and education while at the same time acquire other products such as food at low prices, but all these come at a cost of also foregoing other services and products. It sees a tradeoff where low income earners, though beneficiaries of low tax economy and the social services generously offered, they also suffer from high rate of underemployment if not unemployment since the government would run to cut its spending with retrenchment as always while companies try to minimize expenditure cost so as to meet the set corporate tax (Economics.Help, par. 6).
With lower income taxes, people will tend to work longer hours while at the same time attracting others to join the work force, thus, ensuring low income earners increase their earnings since none is deducted. However, low income taxes do not necessarily lead to increased incentives because tax reduction does not automatically mean that now people will be willing to work more, quite the opposite most tend to be relaxed since they now see that a given burden has been relinquished and they can afford a rest or ‘take it easy’ time, and this can see the government borrowing more (Economics.Help, par. 8). Low income tax also lead to increased inequality since a large proportionate of government spending usually targets the lower income groups, thus, leaving out the high income earners.
Lastly, lower taxes can and do lead to higher costs elsewhere since the government is unable to provide some services resulting in people going out their way to meet such needs, for example, paying for private health care insurance, which with its debts the government is unable to offer. Therefore, although the generous social services and benefits offered to low income earners look lucrative and something to run to, in the long term the cost of running such programs becomes higher than just taxing citizens normally in terms of income tax and from that funding the program. But still, they are admirable and programs that bring positive change to most families and touch the lives of many children in Texas and US in general.
Works Cited
Benefits.Gov. Texas Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Web. 2014.
Assessed on 14th April, 2014 from: http://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-details/1679
Benefits.Gov. Texas Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Web. 2014.
Assessed on 14th April, 2014 from: http://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-details/1348
Economics. Help. Advantages of Tax Cuts. Web.2008. Assessed on 14th April, 2014. From:
http://econ.economicshelp.org/2008/01/advantages-of-tax-cuts.html
Elbow, Steven. Think tank: Income tax elimination would benefit wealthy, cost low earners.
Web.2013. Assessed on 14th April, 2014 from: http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/think-tank-income-tax-elimination-would-benefit-wealthy-cost-low/article_52d1ef55-6e54-5ad0-b2a0-52e50fb91123.html
