Fraud: Black, white and gray. Which is it?
After reading Ihartu's post about public assistance I started wondering if this situation I recently became aware of is ethical, or if it might be considered fraud.
I know of a single mom who is on PA and she also receives FS. She works her butt off to provide for her kids. She has been baking treats like cookies, cakes etc. for other people for some time. I can't be sure that she isn't using her FS to purchase the ingredients, I also can't be sure if she is claiming any profit on her taxes. I assume that she doesn't.
I know of a lot of people who buy her baked goodies and order them regularly. I can appreciate her situation and I certainly appreciate her efforts to do anything she can to make money to support her children.
Some people say that fraud is fraud. If she is using her FS to purchase items to sell and make money for her family is it still fraud? Is it one of those gray areas?
Legally, I believe the fraud would be not reporting the income.
Morally, I believe the wrong would be using the fs for something other than feeding your children.
FS requires you to tell them about ALL incomes that are coming in your home, if she is reporting the bake good income then it isn't fraud, if she is not reporting the income then she is required to. It may not be enough to take away the FS but it does have an effect on how much FS she will receive monthly. I consider fraud to be more of... hey I have 250.00 worth of FS wanna buy em from me at 60%?
Quoting macbudsmom:Legally, I believe the fraud would be not reporting the income.
Morally, I believe the wrong would be using the fs for something other than feeding your children.
even if the money earned was spent to feed her children?
She doesn't need the money to feed her children, she has food stamps. Therefore, it is safe to assume she wants the money to be spent on something other than food.
Quoting Veni.Vidi.Vici.:
Quoting macbudsmom:Legally, I believe the fraud would be not reporting the income.
Morally, I believe the wrong would be using the fs for something other than feeding your children.
even if the money earned was spent to feed her children?
Quoting Joqui:I like your answer.. it is morally fucked up that she is buying the baking materials with the FS.
Quoting macbudsmom:Legally, I believe the fraud would be not reporting the income.
Morally, I believe the wrong would be using the fs for something other than feeding your children.
I can't be sure she's using food stamps. She does work.
Quoting macbudsmom:She doesn't need the money to feed her children, she has food stamps. Therefore, it is safe to assume she wants the money to be spent on something other than food.
Quoting Veni.Vidi.Vici.:
Quoting macbudsmom:Legally, I believe the fraud would be not reporting the income.
Morally, I believe the wrong would be using the fs for something other than feeding your children.
even if the money earned was spent to feed her children?
I'm assuming a lot. I know she's on FS but she works a full time job, too. I could assume that she isn't using the profits to feed her kids, but she is definitely using it to care for them in one way or another.
She could also be reporting the income to Health and Human Services, we really can't say what is going on... but I guess from the outside looking in IF she were using the FS to sell baked goods then yea it looks bad... but I don't think it would disqualify her from receiving FS.
Quoting Veni.Vidi.Vici.:
Quoting Joqui:I like your answer.. it is morally fucked up that she is buying the baking materials with the FS.
Quoting macbudsmom:Legally, I believe the fraud would be not reporting the income.
Morally, I believe the wrong would be using the fs for something other than feeding your children.
I can't be sure she's using food stamps. She does work.
Perhaps FS gives her too much money per month, so this is how she makes good use of it. When we first got on FS, they gave us WAY more than we needed. There is no way to 'give the excess back'. It just rolls over to the next month.
Does the Polygamous Community Deserve Food Stamps?
- Veni.Vidi.Vici.
on Dec. 6, 2012 at 11:03 AM