Isn’t it time to privatize welfare? That is a question that John Goodman (National Center for Policy Analysis) asks in a recent column and in his book, Privatizing the Welfare State. He explains the reason by asking other questions.

Have you ever given money to the food stamp program? Do you know anyone who has? Why doesn’t United Way give to government welfare programs? United Way in Dallas last year donated $50 million to 90 private charities. The food stamp program was not among them. Why?

The answer is simple. The federal welfare programs are not very efficient (to put it mildly). Private sector anti-poverty programs do a better job of getting aid to the needy and are better at encouraging self-sufficiency and self-reliance. They also use resources more efficiently than the government.

For people who are skeptical, Goodman proposes a market test. Let the food stamp program compete on a level playing field against every other anti-poverty program, private or public. American donated almost $300 billion last year to private sector charities in addition to volunteer time valued as $158 billion.

Actually he proposes more than just a simple test. His proposal for government would work like this. Each taxpayer would be able to allocate up to $2,000 of taxes owed to any qualified charity providing assistance to indigent people. He would even let the food stamp program get all the default money (if a taxpayer doesn’t claim a private charity credit). But every dollar that taxpayer gives to a private charity is a dollar the food stamp program must forgo.

He would eventually like this to apply to all welfare programs. And he is aware of possible objections and responds to the 21 possible objections. He believes it is time to privatize the welfare state. Frankly, I think we should have done this years ago.