What about progressive taxation?
The way some people talk, you’d think
that a flat tax system—in which everyone pays at the same rate
regardless of income—would
make citizens feel better than more progressive taxation,
where wealthier people are taxed at higher
rates. Indeed,
the U.S. has been diminishing progressivity of its tax structure
for decades.
But a new study comparing 54 nations found that flattening the tax
risks flattening social wellbeing as well. “The
more progressive the
tax policy is, the happier the citizens are,” says University of
Virginia psychologist Shigehiro Oishi, summarizing the findings,
which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal
of the Association for Psychological Science. Oishi conducted the
study with Ulrich Schimmack of the University of Toronto at
Mississauga and Ed Diener, also at University of Illinois and the
Gallup Organization.
The researchers analyzed the relationship between tax progressivity
and personal well-being in 54 nations surveyed by the Gallup
Organization in 2007—a total of 59,634 respondents. Well-being was
expressed in people’s assessments of their overall life quality,
from “worst” to “best possible life,” on a scale of 1 to 10; and in
whether they enjoyed positive daily experiences (such as smiling,
being treated with respect, and eating good food) or suffered
negative ones, including sadness, worry, and shame. Finally, the
analysis looked at the participants’ satisfaction with their
nation’s public goods, from schools to clean air.
The degree of progressivity was measured by the difference between
the highest and lowest tax rates, corrected for such confounding
factors as family size, social security taxes paid, and tax
benefits received by individuals.
The results: On average, residents of the nations with the most
progressive taxation evaluated
their own lives as closer to “the best possible.” They also
reported having more satisfying experiences and fewer discomfiting
ones than respondents living in nations with less progressive taxes.
That happiness, Oishi says, was “explained by a greater degree of
satisfaction with the public goods, such as housing, education, and
public transportation.”
Higher government spending per se did not yield greater happiness,
in spite of the well-being that was associated with satisfaction
with state-funded services. In fact, there was a slight negative
correlation between government spending and average happiness.
“That data is kind of weird,” Oishi says. He guesses that the
misalignment might indicate national differences in the efficiency
with which those services are delivered or in people’s relative
ability to access them. For example, the U.S. spends more on
education and health care than other developed countries, “but its
international standing in those areas is not so great.” Such
puzzling findings may be illuminated in further research.
The study, like others Oishi has done
looking at connections between economics and personal life, has
important social implications. “If the
goal of societies is to make citizens happy, tax policy matters,”
he says. “Certain policies, like tax progressivity, seem to be more
conducive to the happiness of the
people.”
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/a-more-progressive-tax-system-makes-people-happier.html
Actually, I care not the damn about this bloody selfish spoilt
brat who has no heart for the people in Singapore. I
always bear in mind that this bloody spoilt brat useless bum is in
politics for its own selfish motive and interests. Whatever
it is doing it always tries its best to get the best out of it for
itself, people are not the reason.
