The scourge of the “time tax”

Explain It to Me

Vox Media Podcast Network

Education, Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2022

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

(Originally aired May 2022) Dylan Matthews and Dara Lind are joined by Annie Lowrey (@annielowrey), a staff writer at the Atlantic, to talk about why it’s so hard for people to get government benefits. Frequently called the “time tax,” the administrative burden of applying for and distributing government benefits leads to thousands of people not getting the aid they qualify for. References: Annie Lowrey on Code America’s efforts to fight the Time Tax Pamela Herd and Don Moynihan's book on administrative burden Why Is It So Hard to Make a Website for the Government? from the New York Times White paper — Program Recertification Costs: Evidence from SNAP A sudden change to SSI eligibility had huge, lasting negative consequences Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer Libby Nelson, editorial adviser A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:12.4	Hello and welcome to another episode of the Weeds. I'm your host Dylan Matthews and
1:16.4	I'm joined today by my regular co-host Darryl Land.
1:19.3	Hello.
1:20.6	This week's special guest, the Atlantic staff writer and author of Give People Money,
1:24.7	Annie Lowry.
1:25.7	Hey.
1:26.7	So I've been a big fan of Annie's work for many years going back at least to her work
1:31.2	at the Washington Independent, may it rest in peace. And this week we're going to be
1:35.6	talking about some of her most recent reporting at the Atlantic, which is on the way the US
1:39.4	provides aid to people who are struggling and the way the US structures its welfare state.
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