THE words happy and taxes do not often appear together. In fact, death is the word that people associate most often with taxes, according to wordassociation.org.
Like facing death, contemplating taxes focuses us on what we stand to lose, rather than what we stand to gain. But while some people mitigate the pain of thinking about death by imagining the pleasure of a heavenly afterlife, does anyone have a trick for decreasing the pain of paying taxes?
An emerging body of research offers hope for squeezing some happiness out of tax season. While paying any bills, from rent to maxed-out credit cards, is far from pleasant, there's something about taxes that really irks Americans. One study showed that people were more willing to drive 30 minutes out of their way to buy a "tax free" product than they were to make that same drive for a product that was merely "discounted" — even when the discount saved them more money.
Why the hatred? One reason is that it's not easy for people to see how taxes provide benefits. One survey that asked Americans whether they had used any government social programs found many saying they hadn't — when in fact, a majority had taken advantage of tax deductions for mortgage interest or child care. Fifty-three percent had taken out student loans, and 40 percent had benefited from Medicare. Clearly, the government has a marketing problem.
The tendency of Americans to view taxes as the root of all unhappiness is odd for another reason. Some of the countries with the happiest citizens have tax rates that reach into the stratosphere. In the Netherlands, the top marginal tax rate is 52 percent, and applies to many citizens. In the United States, it is nearly 40 percent, and applies to a much smaller percentage of the population.
Countries that have the happiest citizens tend to tax the rich more heavily. In a study of more than 50 countries, those with more progressive tax rates had happier citizens on average, even when controlling for overall wealth. The United States does not have a particularly progressive tax system, ranking in the bottom half of the world, alongside nations like Italy and Turkey. (Nevertheless, Americans rank quite high in happiness, indicating that the tax system is not the only thing that relates to satisfaction.)
Around the globe, people are happier in countries with progressive taxes because they are satisfied with the services those tax dollars provide, from education to public transportation. Yet Americans fail to see their taxes as anything but wasted. So, what can the government do to make paying taxes a happier experience?
It's not likely that we will get a much more progressive tax system anytime soon. But there's much that can be done, short of that. In his State of the Union speech in 2011, President Obama revealed that for the first time in American history, taxpayers would be able to see how their tax dollars were spent. (You can do this at the White House Web site.) While laudable, simply providing the data may not be enough to change tax attitudes.
In our recent research, we tried to make this kind of government information not just available but also visually arresting. In Boston, officials developed a Web site where residents can report problems, from potholes to missing street signs, that require government action. We modified the Boston Web site to create different versions. For some visitors, the Web site presented a running tally of the service requests "opened" by citizens and "closed" by city employees.
For other visitors, we brought these numbers to life, providing a map with color-coded yellow and blue pins that indicated the exact spot in the city where each service request had been opened and closed. Those who saw the latter version not only thought their government was doing a better job, but also that it deserved more credit than it was getting. Forget big changes to the tax structure: a little color coding can push people's opinions in the right direction.
Similar promise can be found in more drastic changes to the tax system. New research points to the power of letting citizens decide for themselves where some of their taxes should be spent. Let's say you love discovering up-and-coming writers — you might direct some of your tax dollars to the National Endowment for the Arts. Have strong feelings about the military? Put your money in defense spending. Of course, allowing Americans to allocate all of their dollars as they pleased might create problems. (Imagine a world where no one contributed to sewer repair.)
But research shows that giving people even a little say in where their taxes go can significantly change their attitudes. In an experiment recently conducted at the University of Pittsburgh, more than 400 Americans were asked to choose where, among the major categories of the federal budget, from military spending to anti-poverty programs, they would allocate 10 percent of their tax bill if it were up to them. This simple request not only bolstered people's belief that their tax dollars were providing important services, but also increased their satisfaction with paying taxes.
There is a particular irony to the fact that Americans hate paying their taxes: Americans love helping the less fortunate. Year after year, the United States ranks among the top 10 countries worldwide in the percentage of citizens who donate to charity, perform volunteer work and impulsively help strangers.
Our research suggests that giving money to others makes people happy, especially when they can see the difference their dollars are making. And other research shows that contributing to a food bank activates reward areas of the brain, even when those contributions are mandatory. While taxes differ from donations in many respects, both involve sacrificing for the public good. As a result, paying taxes can produce some of the same emotional benefits as giving to charity, especially when it is possible to choose where those dollars go.
Still not feeling the glow? Try this. Think about a major financial success in your life, and what made it happen. Leaving aside your own hard work and inherent genius for a moment, consider the many external contributing factors — the mentor who always believed in you, or the family member who gave you that loan. Our latest research suggests that this simple thought exercise encourages people to believe that their wealth comes with a responsibility to others. In turn, this feeling of responsibility makes paying taxes less painful.
While forking money over to the I.R.S. may seem like a far cry from an afterlife spent floating on fluffy clouds, policy changes — and changes in our own mind-sets — can make it possible to see the silver lining of taxation.
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