{"id":10741,"date":"2009-12-30T09:11:46","date_gmt":"2009-12-30T16:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=10741"},"modified":"2009-12-30T10:08:35","modified_gmt":"2009-12-30T17:08:35","slug":"why-are-people-in-new-york-and-connecticut-unhappy-while-the-folks-in-louisiana-and-tennessee-are-more-satisfied-with-their-lives-the-obvious-answer-is-the-true-one-taxes-and-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10741\/why-are-people-in-new-york-and-connecticut-unhappy-while-the-folks-in-louisiana-and-tennessee-are-more-satisfied-with-their-lives-the-obvious-answer-is-the-true-one-taxes-and-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are people in New York and Connecticut unhappy, while the folks in Louisiana and Tennessee are more satisfied with their lives? The obvious answer is the true one: Taxes and spending."},"content":{"rendered":"

More from The Wall Street Journal:<\/em><\/a> People in high-tax states are less satisfied with their lives than those in low-tax states.<\/p>\n

Who knew?<\/p>\n

That’s not a fair question. Everyone who can do math already knew this. But what’s interesting is that it points the way forward for all states, especially the ones currently losing their high-earning tax-slaves to less onerous tax-plantations: Cut taxes. Cut spending. Get rid of your kleptocratic union laws.<\/p>\n

Or: In the words of John Galt, “Get the hell out of my way!”<\/p>\n

The study suggests that quality of life heavily influences happiness. This may seem obvious, but until this study, social scientists have struggled to develop a model that supports this hypothesis. Now we know that people who say they’re satisfied with their lives aren’t just delusional or overly optimistic, and people who say they’re unsatisfied aren’t just pessimists. People have legitimate reasons to be happy or unhappy.<\/p>\n

And well, high taxes seem to be a big reason — ostensibly an even bigger reason than weather given that California is one of the unhappiest states and inclement Louisiana is the happiest. Further, considering how much New York’s crime rate has dropped and schools have improved in the last decade, taxes seem to overwhelm even these two critical factors in the happiness equation. According to the Tax Foundation 2008 analysis, three of the top five unhappiest states\u2014New York, Connecticut and New Jersey\u2014have the highest state-local tax burdens. On the other hand, four of the top five happiest states\u2014Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Arizona\u2014are among the states with the lowest state-local tax burdens. True, correlation doesn’t prove causation, and high taxes alone don’t always make people miserable, but there’s something going on here.<\/p>\n

In states with high property, income, and sales taxes like New York, people have less money to spend on other things that make them happy. They have less money to spend on vacations, hobbies, home improvements, eating out and child care. Another problem may be that people receive a low return on their tax dollars. The study’s authors note that people are least happy in states that impose high taxes but don’t provide Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More from The Wall Street Journal: People in high-tax states are less satisfied with their lives than those in low-tax states. Who knew? That’s not a fair question. Everyone who can do math already knew this. But what’s interesting is that it points the way forward for all states, especially the ones currently losing their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,24,212,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","7":"category-egoism-in-action","8":"category-flourishing","9":"category-group-therapy","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2560,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2560\/understanding-the-laffer-curve-reality-myth-whats-next\/","url_meta":{"origin":10741,"position":0},"title":"Understanding the Laffer Curve — Reality & Myth — What’s Next?","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"February 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Being just slightly to the right of Attila the Hun, taxes are of great import to me. I believe in principles long established. One of them is small government works better for its citizens than large government. Lower taxes are better than higher taxes as long as the bills are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1479,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1479\/401ks-iras-urban-myths\/","url_meta":{"origin":10741,"position":1},"title":"401(k)’s IRA’s & Urban Myths","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"May 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In a recent post, Retirement -- A New Class Being Created, I predicted a new class of retiree living a life tied to their free and clear home, with little monthly income. It inspired some interesting comments, and a question that is the inspiration for this post. One reader, Eric,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5244,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5244\/arthur-laffer-the-age-of-prosperity-is-over\/","url_meta":{"origin":10741,"position":2},"title":"Arthur Laffer: “The Age of Prosperity Is Over”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The author of the Laffer Curve in the Wall Street Journal:When markets are free, asset values are supposed to go up and down, and competition opens up opportunities for profits and losses. Profits and stock appreciation are not rights, but rewards for insight mixed with a willingness to take risk.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6814,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6814\/youre-gonna-need-a-shovel\/","url_meta":{"origin":10741,"position":3},"title":"You’re Gonna Need a Shovel","author":"Sean Purcell","date":"February 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was young, my father taught me a very simple story: A man walks by a big room and sees that it's chest high in manure.\u00a0 \"Quick,\" he says \"someone get me a shovel.\u00a0 There must be one helluva horse in here somewhere!\" Now the message was always clear:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5564,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5564\/think-your-taxes-are-going-down-think-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":10741,"position":4},"title":"Think Your Taxes Are Going Down? Think Again","author":"Doug Quance","date":"November 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In A Few Years We'll Be Calling These Days The Good Ol' Days Some believe that in the coming administration, their taxes will be lowered. Some even believe that they won't have to worry about buying gas... or paying their mortgage... as Obama will make sure that all is well.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":839,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/839\/if-retirements-called-your-golden-years-why-shouldnt-you-keep-the-gold\/","url_meta":{"origin":10741,"position":5},"title":"If Retirement’s Called Your ‘Golden Years’ Why Shouldn’t You Keep The Gold?","author":"Jeff Brown","date":"January 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're in the state\/fed combined tax bracket of 33.3% and your home mortgage is interest only at 6%, your after tax rate is 4%. But you knew that, right? And if your loan is say, $200K, then your annual interest deduction is $12k. At your 1\/3 tax bracket your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10743,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10741\/revisions\/10743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}