Do welfare recipients have to pay income taxes on payment received?

Welfare was created in the 1930s to help families who were absolutely decimated by the Great Depression. It is a publicly funded state-wide program that assists families who can't support themselves and/or their children. The people eligible for welfare are given monthly payments from the government known as "welfare checks". As far as I know, these checks are not taxable by the IRS, as they still wouldn't make the recipient enough money to be considered having enough income for taxes, so you can declare yourself exempt. The one problem with welfare is that it often discourages lazy people from trying to find a job. However, if you do work a really low income job while on welfare, your employer is still forced to withhold some of you pay for social security and medicare.