There's a good chance she gets rent subsidies on top of that fat refund from taxpayers' dollars. So either way, she is not really providing for her kids without some help. Working a minimum-wage job with 3 kids, she qualifies for free healthcare, daycare, foodstamps, and discounted housing.  If she really had her priorities straight, she'd use that money for her own education to get a better job or put it into a 529 so her kids can break the cycle of poor and fat.