The time tax has a fax machine in it

Annie Lowrey, a staff writer at The Atlantic, has a new book called The Time Tax about the hours the government makes people spend proving they deserve help. She discussed it with Ezra Klein on the Aug. 25, 2026 episode of The New York Times’ The Ezra Klein Show, “This Is Why People Hate the Government.” Partway through, the conversation lands on faxing, and Klein asks, more or less, how anyone even sends a fax anymore. That is the whole question, and it is a fair one.

Here is the part the book describes that most people do not see until it happens to them. You call about a benefits application, or a renewal, or a claim, and the person on the phone says “fax it to us.” Not upload. Not email. Fax. This still happens across a lot of the systems Lowrey writes about.

Where the fax instruction still comes from

• Social Security. Local field offices accept faxed forms and documents, and SSA’s own site lists fax alongside upload, mail and the drop box. Disability applications and SSI paperwork are where people hear it most. The number for your office is on our Social Security fax page.
• State unemployment. Identity verification, wage records, and appeals go by fax in many states. California’s EDD and Illinois’ IDES are two of the busiest. See EDD and IDES.
• Medicaid and state health programs. Renewals and verification letters come with a 10 to 30 day deadline and a fax number at the bottom. MassHealth and NJ FamilyCare both take renewal documents this way.
• SNAP and other state human services. Proof of income, proof of residency, change reports. The government fax hub lists what we have verified so far.

None of this is the caseworker’s fault. Fax is the one channel every office already has, it produces a timestamped record, and it never needs a login the applicant has to recover. The problem is entirely on the sending side.

How to send one from your phone, in about a minute

1. Photograph the pages or upload the PDF.
2. Enter the fax number. Check it against the agency’s page, because a wrong number is the most common reason a fax never arrives.
3. Send. $2.99 per fax, up to 25 pages, no account. You are only charged if it is delivered, and the confirmation with the timestamp and page count goes to your email. That confirmation is the thing to keep when the office says they never received it.

Deadlines on these letters are short and the consequence of missing one is losing coverage or a claim. If you have been told to fax something, do it today, from wherever you are, and keep the receipt.

Sources

• Annie Lowrey, The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time, and How to Fix It (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2026, ISBN 9780063442559). https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/annie-lowrey/the-time-tax/
• “This Is Why People Hate the Government,” The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times, Aug. 25, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast
• Social Security Administration, submitting forms and documents to your local office. https://www.ssa.gov/manage-benefits/submit-forms-upload-documents