This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. ~Douglas Adams
Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. ~Oscar Wilde
Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money. ~Cree Indian Proverb
After a visit to the beach, it's hard to believe that we live in a material world. ~Pam Shaw
What makes me happy is my business
what makes you happy is your business
Just because my happiness derives from different things than your happiness doesn't justify you trying to make me miserable, or taxing the things that make me happy, like
Cigarettes
Alcohol
Gambling
Investing
Savings
Large Houses
Expensive Cars
etc.
Actually I quit smoking, and I don't Gamble, but this isn't really about me, and I don't see the point in having a house larger than what you need, or a car so expensive that you can't afford collision and comprehensive coverage on it, but I also don't think it makes sense to tax those things more, as consumption is the other side of the coin of production. Having lots of jobs is pointless if no one is buying the shit that is being produced.
So taxing the rich, who would buy large houses and thus provide more jobs doesn't make sense.
If happiness is truly the goal then why punish people that define happiness in different ways?
Wouldn't it be better to punish those that want to interfere in the happiness of others, like the government, the police, and the military?
I mean, government is essentially an armed gang that commits robbery that everyone permits because it's "government."
By that logic if I had a gang of criminals would it be okay for us to steal as long as we said we were "the government"?