Paperwork, lines, hours on hold: There’s a ‘Time Tax’ on Americans who need help most

Hospitality workers wait in line to apply for unemployment benefits at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

How much of your life do you spend waiting, either in line, on the phone or while filling out government forms? Annie Lowrey, a journalist with The Atlantic, says all that waiting amounts to what she calls a “time tax,” paid most often by those applying for government benefits