I invite you to read this article about Denmark ("The happiest place on earth") circa 2007: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=4086092&page=1 From the article: "The happiest people in the world pay some of the highest taxes in the world -- between 50 percent and 70 percent of their incomes"

I know this thread is not related to happiness, but I do think there is a correlation between poverty and happiness. It's hard to be happy when you can't put food on the table (let alone pay for an education) for your children.