SNAP (Food Stamps) and Earned Income Tax Credit Had Big Antipoverty Impact in 2011

The official poverty figures count only cash income, so they don’t reflect the antipoverty impact of some key safety net programs, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and SNAP (formerly food stamps).  But the Census data released this morning show that if you count these benefits, the EITC lifted 5.7 million people — including 3 million children — out of poverty in 2011, and SNAP lifted out 3.9 million people, including 1.7 million children.

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