The Happiness Tax (Ebook)

She got better. They sent her the bill. In New Albion, after the Long Recession, happiness is taxed. Everybody wears a wellbeing band. If your score is above the national threshold, you pay into a fund that supports everyone below it. Share your happiness, say the posters. It seems fair. Mara Keene's husband was killed on his bike two years ago. For two years her score has never risen above thirty-one. Then, one Saturday in a community garden in Hull, a robin steals a worm, and she laughs. Her score jumps to fifty-seven. Her first bill is forty-one pounds twenty. So Mara learns to hide. She stops seeing friends. She stops going to the garden. She stops her tablets. And she isn't the only one: all over the country, people are pretending to be miserable so they won't have to pay for getting better. Then her neighbour Nell, who really is miserable, finds out she's worth more to the government that way. THE HAPPINESS TAX: a novella of grief, hope and the small print. Complete and standalone, from ThextonLabs. WHAT YOU GET - The complete novella (10,300 words, 41 pages) - EPUB for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo and Google Play Books - 6x9 PDF that reads beautifully on any phone, tablet or computer HOW TO READ IT - Kindle: send the EPUB to your Kindle with the free Send to Kindle app or email - iPhone and iPad: open the EPUB in Apple Books - Android: open the EPUB in Google Play Books, or just open the PDF - Computer: open the PDF PLEASE NOTE - This is a DIGITAL download. Nothing physical will be shipped. - Personal use only: please don't share or resell the files. - Contains themes of bereavement and depression. Suitable for adult readers. - Written and designed by ThextonLabs with the help of AI tools, then edited and proofread.