Want that warm inner glow? Pay tax

The following is a report from the 'Courier Mail'.

“WHO would have thought that paying your taxes can switch on the reward centers of your brain like a party drug?

That is the finding of a study that recorded how the brains of a group of women lit up with pleasure as money was mandatorily transferred from their bank, accounts to a charity.

The results were similar to, although not as pronounced, as when the subjects donated money voluntarily.

Scientists from the University of Oregon, reporting in the journal, Science, say the research sheds light on that very human quality of altruism, or self-sacrifice, and shows that "paying taxes can make people feel good".

The study confirms the economic theory of "warm glow" giving, says Paul Fritiers, a happiness eco-nometrician at the Queensland University of Technology. "Economists tend to think of things in terms of utility but in the simplest form (warm glow giving) is just saying,'1 become happier if 1 see that you're happier'," Professor Fritiers says. "It means 1 care about
how other people feel; if they feel better, 1 feel better. It means youre no longer a purely selfish agent but that you're willing to pay money to make other people feet happy."

The study represents the new field of neuroeconomics, a meeting of economics and psychology”.

How we get from donating money to charity to paying taxes is uncertain in the report, however if it is the case that all of you people out there swoon with ecstasy at the thought of your next tax bill it is no wonder taxes are so high.
If this is the case, shouldn’t governments be altruistic by getting us to pay more and higher taxes to make us even happier.

Perhaps as the study was apparently done with women subjects, happiness at paying taxes may be a 'girl thing'.