The annual World Happiness Report was released last week, and it shockingly found that the United States failed to rank in the top 20 happiest countries.
Perhaps in response, former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon has created a first-in-the-nation group to study the issue, called the Select Committee on Happiness and Public Policy Outcomes. The committee recently had its first hearing.
“Because if we have everybody clothed, everybody housed, everybody has a job and they’re miserable, then we’ve failed at what we’re trying to do,” he said, adding that lawmakers should make happiness a priority for policy makers.
But while Rendon’s concern is appreciated, and the state already involves itself in a great many aspects of our lives, happiness is not the government’s to give. So, what is a government to do when its populace, as Rendon claims, is miserable?
Well, our Founding Fathers gave us the right to pursue happiness and, in that regard, the state, as a guardian of our rights, has something it can do:
Get out of the way!
California is one of the highest taxed states in the country, we are at the top or near the top in every major tax category besides property taxes. Even then, with Proposition 13’s protections, we are not a low property tax state, we’re somewhere in the middle.
When it comes to starting a business, California is one of the worst. Recently, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation ranked California 48th in its 2024 State Business Tax Climate Index. California is number three in Americans for Tax Reform’s “judicial hellhole” list because the state’s “novel theories of liability” are burdening small businesses and bogging down the state’s economy.
Pile all the extra mandates, rules, regulations, permits and fees and you see why many California businesses are choosing to relocate or expand to other states.
It could also explain why a U-Haul from Sacramento to Boise costs $2,409 but only costs $467 the other way around.
If the state Legislature was truly concerned about the happiness of its citizens, they would lower taxes and give those struggling to get by in this state the peace of mind of a little more money in their pockets.
If that’s too much to ask amid the current budget uncertainty, it could simply investigate how it spends the money it already has before asking us for more. With examples like the rampant fraud at the Employment Development Department, the boondoggle of the bullet train to nowhere and the billions that have gone to homelessness while the problem only gets worse, the state isn’t without places to look when it comes to finding cost savings.
The Legislature could also end its lawsuit against the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act (TPA).
TPA would close court-created loopholes in Prop. 13 as well as providing additional taxpayer safeguards like giving Californians the right to vote on all new state and local taxes.
It is especially needed now because the urge for new taxes has never been greater as the state goes from a $100 billion surplus to a more than $60 billion deficit, with multiple years of projected shortfalls on the horizon.
California voters should have the right to vote on future taxes to ensure their voice is heard on when and how new revenue is raised and spent.
The governor, legislative leadership and public employee unions oppose the voters having this right, and instead want the power to raise unlimited taxes for unlimited spending, without any say from the voters who are paying those taxes – and they are suing to keep it off the ballot.
People are the happiest when they feel in control of their lives. The Legislature’s Select Committee on Happiness and Public Policy Outcomes would be wise to find more ways to stay out of our business and remember that government is responsible to us, not the other way around.
Jon Coupal is president of the Howard Jarvis