Name the happiest people in the world.
Name the highest taxes paid by people and corporations in the world.
Guess what? They (tend) to be the same people.
This is a simple plot (R code below) of 108 countries plotted by their “happiness quotient” in relation to their combined personal and highest corporate tax rate.
That line means that, in general, the higher the tax rate, the happier people reported to be (see cite below). This has been documented before. And a new report is due soon that will further elucidate this relationship.
The bottom line? If you take the recent US Republican tax bill that passed (Dec 2017), then what these fools have done is slid the United States BACKWARDS on that line. By reducing taxes (they say) across the board, they effectively want the Citizens of the United States to be more miserable than they are now.
Happy Holidaze!
[R Code]
lmod <- lm(happiness ~ taxrate, data = happytax) plot(happiness ~ taxrate, data = happytax, pch = 19, main = "happiness vs. taxrate", xlab = "taxrate", ylab = "happiness") abline(lmod)
[Cite:]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/personal-income-tax-rate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report
March 14th, 2018 at 7:23 am
Wealthy enough to live without fear of homelessness, hunger or health-collapse while being allowed to pursue my modest passions. That is all the wealth I would care for.Were a donation to arrive to get me to this point, that would indeed make me happy for a long, long time.So, yes, $ can buy the possibility of happiness.
Of course happiness is not a thing one pursues — it is an awareness one discovers when anxiety is low and self-fulfillment is high. Seeking happiness is counter productive.
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December 21st, 2017 at 10:04 pm
The “safety” factor plays a tremendous role (emotional, social, financial.) My childhood and adolescence were split between the US, Brazil and Europe, and my adulthood mostly in Europe, so I’ve experienced different systems. Interestingly I do feel the safest in France where taxes are the highest of all the places where I’ve lived. In fact I wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else because I feel so protected here.
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December 22nd, 2017 at 12:42 am
Great point!
Security. Secure in your home, your job, your future. Secure in law, business, banking, trade. Secure as you travel, when you fail, when calamity strikes.
One of government’s (society’s) primary directives is to provide as secure an environment as possible for its citizens.
Other directives is to ensure that the playing field — the business field — is as level as possible (through regulation).
Other than that, government should get out of the way.
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December 22nd, 2017 at 10:46 am
Yes. When I was 20 years old I had a car accident in Illinois. In my state of semi-consciousness the question I got over and over was “what’s your insurance?” – this apparently affected which hospital I was taken to. Fortunately I had the “right” insurance and all went well, but I felt unsafe. And I could go down a list of experiences that made me rule countries in or out of my path.
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December 20th, 2017 at 11:16 pm
That is the oddest correlation I’ve seen to date, which comes after “All people that drink water die.”
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December 20th, 2017 at 7:10 pm
I guess if we want to be happier, we need to donate a few extra thousand per person to the government. (or whatever amount will guarantee eternal happiness?)
Who will go first with their offering in exchange for happiness?
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December 20th, 2017 at 7:15 pm
I vote the people with the most to give step forward first. And when my turn comes, I’ll gladly step up.
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December 20th, 2017 at 7:06 pm
Absolutely true.. In a blog I wrote last Spring sometime, I asked the question on how you measure the success of a country, and concluded that you measure it upon the happiness of its citizens. This was about the time the last “World Happiness Report” came out and the US has slipped from 12 to 13, or something similar. Most of the happiest countries were in the Nordic countries, of course, and all of them had great social safety nets (and the higher taxation that comes along with that).
By the time DT leaves office, I’ve a feeling the US will slip out of the teens and into the low 20s on that report. Only the rich and politically entrenched will benefit from this. Of course, this is what Republicans have meant all along by “Make America Great Again.” Great for whom, we need to ask…
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December 20th, 2017 at 7:26 pm
I’m afraid that most folks take for granted the benefits that taxes (should) pay for. And of course the government doesn’t help with the constant grift, pork and corruption.
The anarchist in me wouldn’t mind seeing all taxes eliminated. Then we’ll see whose house burns down first; whose home is overrun by Canadian Invaders (ha!); whose food, water, medicine shows up polluted, toxic and deadly.
“What? You’re saying cops or EMTs aren’t gonna come if I dial 911? Shee-it!”
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December 20th, 2017 at 8:31 pm
Ha! Those marauding Canadians will overrun us all! 😂
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December 20th, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Of course they do…
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December 20th, 2017 at 7:18 pm
I know. The libertarian in me chafes at this concept too. But, I kind of like clean water, safe roads, regulated airways, a (generally) operational legal system, and many of the other features we pay for (but often don’t get) for our taxes.
https://anonymole.wordpress.com/2017/10/11/taxes-payment-for-privileges/
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