The scourge of the “time tax”

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

Hosts: Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox Dara Lind (@dlind), Weeds co-host, Vox

Credits: Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer Libby Nelson, editorial adviser Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter

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