Yes, there is an ever growing body of studies showing that in different ways.
Here's one such study I happen to have linked to in an earlier comment on this site:
But these attitudes doesn't come from nowhere - they are in fact heavily promoted by the US right-wing political establishment to grow their base of political support.
The donor class of the political right in the US is rich AF individuals and corporations that at all cost want to avoid the US moving to a more expansive welfare model like all of the rest of the western democratic world already has - because that would cost them, personally, more money - while giving them nothing.
They, being rich AF, has no reason to ever want such a model as they can already pay for everything they need out of pocket.
But the percentage of the population that is as rich as that is always tiny in every country, and they alone can't possibly win general elections - so they have to convince many, many more people to actively vote AGAINST their own economical interests to block this expansion of the welfare state.
From the point of the nation as a whole, the policy they want to keep is also clearly detrimental as the US for instance pays more for it's healthcare then any other nation - while still not achieving universal coverage.
So the broken system the political right is desperately trying to preserve simply benefits no one but the tiny clique of their rich AF donor base and the big corporation.
The vast majority of Americans - as well as the US nation as a whole - would definitely benefit from getting with the program and joining the rest of the democratic western world in the 21st century.
Which is of course why in every other western democracy, EVERY party from left to right supports the expanded welfare state system, as well as basically all unbiased policy experts and apolitical researchers studying these issues.
So from an honest policy debate perspective, the welfare state models has already won the debate - it's simply the best model.
Which leaves the forces on the political right that wants to block this development no other option then to lie, lie and lie about this, and use non-issue propaganda based on fearmongering and scare tactics in trying to persuade a majority of voters to vote AGAINST their own best interest.
And of course the same small clique of people in the countries that do have the expanded welfare state don't want to pay for this system either, so of course many of them do all they can to dodge their taxes.
So as you say - of course we in these countries would all gain by enforcing our tax laws strictly and make sure people actually pay what they owe.
If we did that we could in fact probably lower taxes, since we're easily talking about billions in state revenue lost to tax evasion each year.
Unfortunately you need broader cooperation between many countries to do this effectively, as otherwise the cheaters simply move their money around the world to avoid detection.
This has gotten better over time, but we're still a far way of from an optimal point.
The only real solution is for voters in every country to always vote for the party most willing to stand up for the welfare state - which usually means a left-wing political party.
That is what benefits not only most regular voters, but also the nations the most in the long run.
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@Qsigne
Yes, there is an ever growing body of studies showing that in different ways.
Here's one such study I happen to have linked to in an earlier comment on this site:
http://www.thejournal.ie/conservative-liberal-happiness-social-welfare-1671962-Sep2014/
But these attitudes doesn't come from nowhere - they are in fact heavily promoted by the US right-wing political establishment to grow their base of political support.
The donor class of the political right in the US is rich AF individuals and corporations that at all cost want to avoid the US moving to a more expansive welfare model like all of the rest of the western democratic world already has - because that would cost them, personally, more money - while giving them nothing.
They, being rich AF, has no reason to ever want such a model as they can already pay for everything they need out of pocket.
But the percentage of the population that is as rich as that is always tiny in every country, and they alone can't possibly win general elections - so they have to convince many, many more people to actively vote AGAINST their own economical interests to block this expansion of the welfare state.
From the point of the nation as a whole, the policy they want to keep is also clearly detrimental as the US for instance pays more for it's healthcare then any other nation - while still not achieving universal coverage.
So the broken system the political right is desperately trying to preserve simply benefits no one but the tiny clique of their rich AF donor base and the big corporation.
The vast majority of Americans - as well as the US nation as a whole - would definitely benefit from getting with the program and joining the rest of the democratic western world in the 21st century.
Which is of course why in every other western democracy, EVERY party from left to right supports the expanded welfare state system, as well as basically all unbiased policy experts and apolitical researchers studying these issues.
So from an honest policy debate perspective, the welfare state models has already won the debate - it's simply the best model.
Which leaves the forces on the political right that wants to block this development no other option then to lie, lie and lie about this, and use non-issue propaganda based on fearmongering and scare tactics in trying to persuade a majority of voters to vote AGAINST their own best interest.
And of course the same small clique of people in the countries that do have the expanded welfare state don't want to pay for this system either, so of course many of them do all they can to dodge their taxes.
So as you say - of course we in these countries would all gain by enforcing our tax laws strictly and make sure people actually pay what they owe.
If we did that we could in fact probably lower taxes, since we're easily talking about billions in state revenue lost to tax evasion each year.
Unfortunately you need broader cooperation between many countries to do this effectively, as otherwise the cheaters simply move their money around the world to avoid detection.
This has gotten better over time, but we're still a far way of from an optimal point.
The only real solution is for voters in every country to always vote for the party most willing to stand up for the welfare state - which usually means a left-wing political party.
That is what benefits not only most regular voters, but also the nations the most in the long run.