AR, I don't think you're missing anything about this, nor do I think your point is wrong for many people. I remember working three jobs (one full time) just after college, and have worked two a few times.
I can remember being poor enough to qualify for assistance, and not taking it because I felt "too proud" to take it. It wasn't a big deal to me, I just remember how hard my parents worked and I could not really fathom taking things like that. It certainly would have made things easier for me, but I just didn't want that outlook.
The thing is, there are no absolutes. I think about single parents, or parents who don't make a lot of money, that don't have help in watching their children and have to pay for daycare. Daycare costs are very expensive these days and often are as expensive as the job you could choose to work at as a second (or even first) job. What do you do then? And what kind of household do you provide by working all the time and not being there for your children at all? And then, you get ridiculed for poor parenting by those looking for blame for things like crime, drug abuse, etc.
NO DOUBT there are lazy people who take advantage of the system. We should try to minimize their ability to do that. Or at the very least limit it. Make them work for it, service programs, that kind of thing. There could be some really creative things done along these lines, which could help everyone involved.
But there are some that really have a hard time doing what you suggest, for many reasons. It's not an absolute situation in most cases, for all.
And, what does this really have to do with this bracket of people paying a percentage of their small incomes in taxes? It not really about feeling sorry for them, is it? It's about common sense and an ability to pay, isn't it?
