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The Secret Pleasure of Paying Taxes

Taxes

According to brain scans, paying taxes is a pleasurable experience for many people.

Nineteen female university students were given $100, and told that some of this money would have to go towards taxes. Each volunteer read 60 taxation scenarios ranging from $0 to $45 in taxes, knowing that one of these amounts would be selected at random and subtracted from their money.

As they read the scenarios, their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Scientists saw a spike in the activity of two of the brain's reward centers, the nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus.

It was theorized that the taxes may have caused pleasure because they were perceived as going to help others, so the experiment was then repeated with voluntary scenarios related to charitable donations rather than taxation. The charity donations provided an even greater boost in brain reward center activity.

Researchers were in fact able to predict generosity based on their brain response to paying taxes. The 10 subjects who showed the greatest brain activity in response to hypothetical taxes in the first part of the study chose to donate more money in the second part. They gave an average of $17 to charity, compared to an average of $10 for the other 9 subjects.

Science June 15, 2007

New Scientist June 14, 2007


Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Surprisingly, people may feel more positively about paying taxes than they generally admit. Of course, most people find voluntarily giving money to charity a more rewarding experience than mandatory taxation.

Personal income tax, however, may be far less necessary than most people have been led to believe. You might want to listen to presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul speak eloquently on the practical possibility of abolishing the income tax and the IRS, as well as eliminating the U.S. Federal Reserve in order to restore real money, rather than printing more as we run out and calling it inflation.

However, it certainly is true that people enjoy giving to others. If you want to increase your enjoyment of life, helping others is certainly a good start. Remember that you can donate not only money but your time as well. But please, wherever you choose to donate to, do your homework first to make sure your donation is being used wisely.

And, if you're looking for even more tips to "trigger" your brain's pleasure centers, check out
10 Steps to Being Happier and Healthier.

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Comment on This Article Community Comments (43)
 
 
Posted On Jun 19, 2007
Not true.  People hate paying taxes, because we know where the money is going.  If we were able to trust our government then perhaps there would be less anxiety during the month of April. 

This article is wrong.

 
annapavlova42
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 2/2007
annapavlova42  
 
 
 
Posted On Jun 18, 2007
This is very similar to Friday's Why Giving to Charity Feels Good.


 
Reesacat
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 1/2007
Reesacat  
 
 
 
Posted On Jun 18, 2007
I'm sure the people who enjoy finding more ways to tax us, would like us to believe that it feels good to pay taxes.

 
Cacao
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 3/2007
Cacao  
 
 
 
Posted On Jun 19, 2007
I think their brains lit up simply because they were given $100, not because they're going to get taxed. 


 
seaweed
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 9/2006
seaweed  
Replied

Lili
Novice User Novice User Joined On 10/2006
Lili  
 
Posted On Jul 07, 2007
Exactly! I wouldn't care what the taxes were if the money was free to begin with! I'd just nod and smile. "Do whatever you want, whatever's left is still free money for me!"


ChrisK
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 12/2006
ChrisK  
 
Posted On Jul 08, 2007
Bingo! Like others have said, of course you will be happy if someone gives you money...even if you have to give some up to those morons in Washington.  You think people that hit the million dollar lotto are THAT upset about having to give up 40-50% in taxes after winning a fortune?

My guess is this is an IRS funded study or a grant from the Feds.  Shocker, that it would come to this conclusion.  Not to mention they were college students.  I would have been excited as hell to receive free money in college. :)

 
 
 
Posted On Jun 18, 2007
Donating or not, beware SCAM charities, there are many more crooked ones than honest; just merely look at the vast criminal corruption in the Roman Catholic Church with the GLOBAL pedophile scandal and criminal cover up from Arc Evil Types, & Still Unaccountable, like Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in LA....

 
Russ Bianchi
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 9/2006
Russ Bianchi  
Replied

MarikaB
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 4/2007
MarikaB  
 
Posted On Jun 19, 2007
You are absolutely right Russ. I hate to brag and go back to communist Czechoslovakia but I give you a story..
While in 7th grade my father was working in Libya as a dental technician. We went there to visit him for two months so I did have a pretty good idea how people live there.......kids too.
I was shocked when my father told me that all those cars in parking lot by the school are cars of the older students (some of my age)....Why was I shocked??? Because in Czechoslovakia maybe every 10th 20th family owned a car. We got around with public transportation.
One day my school was organizing  charity collection (money of course) for children in Libya. When my father found out, he was furious about that stupidity.
Czechoslovak kids were collecting donation for the "oil rich" country. With the socialist system being corrupted none of the parents believed that that money will even reach Libya.......

So yes, I am very skeptical about charities........Last summer I was helping out a neighbor babysitting her son for free. And that was my charity, since they were living paycheck if there was any at times to paycheck. I give to ones that I know they will use money or something else of help for their good.

You want to do good thing with your money? Buy from local stores owned by local people, don't buy from Walmart no matter how attractive prices are.........we are just supporting the big piggy bank by that....

And nobody will drill into my head that students LIKED to give part of the money to the charity rather then keeping it for themselves........it that's the really the case, than oh boy public schools are doing a really good job on altering a human being under their watch..........

I am not saying that I don't like to share if I have to something to share with in the first place, I am saying that if someone landed me $1mill I would have a very hard time to "share it" with IRS

 
 
 
 
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