A more progressive tax system makes people happier
Science Daily
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.
vruz: because not everybody wants to live the dream of a life with a gun under the pillow, in a walled suburb, on a big 4x4 truck so that you can drive over the rubble of society crumbling down.
