A Wealth Tax Could Deliver a Happiness Dividend
Tax-the-rich plans face doubts about the amount of money they could raise. But researchers say they dependably produce an emotional lift for society as a whole.
Shifting the mood.
Photographer: iStockphoto/Getty ImagesWhen a study released earlier this month showed the wealthiest Americans paying a lower tax rate than any other group, Democratic presidential candidates embraced it as a proof that they were on the right track.
While their tax-the-rich proposals vow to create a better economic balance, the candidates often pivot to what they would do with the proceeds: Medicare for All, student loan relief, infrastructure repair, and other expensive programs.
Those equations have raised serious doubts, and for good reason. Turning tax revenue into a massive healthcare system – or measurable economic growth – is incredibly complicated. But raising taxes on the wealthy could deliver something meaningful that millions of Americans would feel rather quickly: happiness.
Recent research found that progressive taxes may make the average citizen happier and more content. In the course of their study, psychologists Shigehiro Oishi and Kostadin Kushlev of the University of Virginia and Ulrich Schimmack of the University of Toronto eschewed the usual debate about tax increases: Are they bad for economic growth? Instead, they focused on a more emotional one: Do Americans feel happier – and experience a greater sense of fairness – under more progressive taxation?