Why the Biggest SNAP “Recipients” Are Corporations, Not People
When people talk about “abuse” of food assistance programs, the blame almost always lands on the people using them — the single mom working two jobs, the older adult stretching Social Security to the end of the month, the family whose rent and medical bills eat up every paycheck. But if we want to talk about who really profits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), we should be looking up, not down.
The Largest Employer of SNAP Recipients
Walmart is the largest employer of SNAP recipients in the country. By paying wages so low that many of its own employees qualify for food assistance, the company effectively shifts billions in costs onto taxpayers. At the same time, it can collect federal tax credits of up to $9,600 per employee for hiring people who receive public assistance through the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program. And it doesn’t stop there. Roughly one in every four SNAP dollars is spent at Walmart. That means taxpayer money intended to help families buy groceries ends up feeding one of the richest corporations in the world. They’re financially benefitting from SNAP 3 different ways!
A Cycle Designed For Profit
This isn’t an accident. It’s a cycle designed to keep workers dependent and corporations profitable. Low wages push people toward public assistance, those benefits funnel back into the same corporations’ registers, and the companies collect both public goodwill and government incentives along the way.
Meanwhile, the people using SNAP are the ones blamed — as if they created the system that keeps wages low and living costs high. The truth is, corporations like Walmart rely on poverty to maximize profits. They depend on a workforce that can’t afford to live on what they earn, while the public quietly subsidizes their business model.
A Path Forward
If we really want to fix what’s “broken” about SNAP, we need to start with the policies that allow corporations to profit from hunger. We need wages that reflect the true cost of living, tax laws that reward fairness instead of exploitation, and a food system that values people over profits.
Until then, food banks like ours will keep showing up to fill the gap — but we’ll also keep telling the truth: the real abuse of SNAP isn’t coming from those who use it. It’s coming from those who cash in on it.
When you donate to the Port Angeles Food Bank, you’re choosing a different path. Your support stays here in our community — helping local families access fresh, healthy food and building a food system rooted in fairness, not corporate profit. Together, we can make sure compassion, not exploitation, drives the way people eat and live.