HAPPINESS AND TAXES

Since taxes are a big topic of the day in the U.S., it may come as a surprise that the happiest countries in the world have rather high taxes, much higher then the U.S.

According to the United Nations' latest World Happiness Report, as covered by CBS News, the top 10 happiest countries are:*

1. Norway
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Switzerland
5. Finland
6. Netherlands
7. Canada
8. New Zealand
9. Australia
10. Sweden

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As of 2014, in terms of total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP and measured per capita, Norway came in at No. 2 out of 35 countries ($37,682 USD), Denmark at No. 3 ($30,630 USD), and Iceland came in at No. 9 ($20,418 USD), according to the OECD.*
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Unlike Americans, however, residents of New Zealand 

enjoy the protection of a robust welfare state including 

a public health system, 18 weeks of subsidized parental

 leave and benefits for middle- and low-income families 

with young children.

The U.S. ranks No. 14 for happiness, significantly lower 
than its neighbor to the north, Canada.*

Ow is the ranking of happiness done?
All of the top four countries rank highly on all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance.
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All of the other countries in the top ten also have high values in all six of the key variables used to explain happiness differences among countries and through time – income, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on in times of trouble, generosity, freedom and trust, with the latter measured by the absence of corruption in business and government.**


Perhaps if happiness is a goal, we in the U.S. should think of how we can afford these things that other countries have rather than try to get rid of what we have.   But then, maybe happiness is not our goal.  Maybe it is just a constant pursuit of happiness a la the constitution and not achieving it.

* https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/09/the-happiest-countries-in-the-world-also-pay-a-lot-in-taxes.html
** http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017/