Maryland Millionaires Go Missing

[Freedom4all]

Link

Maryland couldn't balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O'Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were "willing and able to pay their fair share." The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would "grin and bear it."

One year later, nobody's grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller's office concedes is a "substantial decline." On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year -- even at higher rates.

 

[Freedom4all]

Nothing like a little Cause and Effect before lunch LOL!

This for all the liberal "Pay their fair share" types.

My fair share of any tax increase is ZERO!!!!!

If I'm in the top 4% of income EARNERS, I along with my fellow taxpayers in that demographic already pay something like 60% of the Federal Income tax and IIRC the bottom 50% account for something like 4% of the revenue collected.

Honestly if we have to have a graduated income tax wouldn't it make the most sense to have the highest percentage rates be for the lowest wage earners in order to encourage them to earn more and build more wealth to the point where even with a lower tax rate the government would take in more money?

Conversely one sure fire way to improve the solvency of the Social Security System would be to actively promote smoking. We would lower the average life expectancy by roughly 3 to 5 years due to people dying younger and collecting much less in benefits. One way to do this is to lower cigarette taxes to the point where more people smoke and as a result actually raise the amount of revenue collected.

Want to improve government schools? Make parents with school aged PAY for education. Why should those who have no children subsidize those who do? If you want to be a good little Catholic couple and have 11 kids GREAT, pay for them. This lowers real estate taxes and makes every school administrator, Principal and teacher accountable to those who pay the bulk of the bills. Lower real estate taxes fuel the consumer economy.

So you see in many regards LESS become MORE in a Libertarian world and in the Liberal world MORE become LESS. Pretty simple.

By driving all the silliness and fat out of government you can actually build an appropriate social safety net based on a public/private partnership that will do more with less. Look at Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army as case studies on how to deliver social services. Local food banks are also a great example.

Better yet, guess what else is coming around the bend?

Could it be because of this? IRS tax revenue falls along with taxpayers' income

Federal tax revenue plunged $138 billion, or 34%, in April vs. a year ago — the biggest April drop since 1981, a study released Tuesday by the American Institute for Economic Research says.
When the economy slumps, so does tax revenue, and this recession has been no different, says Kerry Lynch, senior fellow at the AIER and author of the study. "It illustrates how severe the recession has been."

For example, 6 million people lost jobs in the 12 months ended in April — and that means far fewer dollars from income taxes. Income tax revenue dropped 44% from a year ago.

"These are staggering numbers," Lynch says.

Big revenue losses mean that the U.S. budget deficit may be larger than predicted this year and in future yet.

 

[cltrat]

Dem lackeys esp like a certain poster on the board are apparently too stupid to understand this

 

[Gilding the Lily]

Could it be because of this? IRS tax revenue falls along with taxpayers' income

That is a good question. The first editorial link you posted to start the thread stated that Maryland millionaires were leaving the state, in part, because of the new tax increases. I hate higher taxes as much of the next guy and I also think that high taxes discourages certain economic growth, but I wonder if the the "millionaires gone missing" is due more to the millionaires simply losing wealth as your above link suggests, rather than leaving the state. I would imagine that the slower economy has taken a huge toll on millionaires and, as such, the millionaire population has decreased due to no longer being a millionaire, not because most of those millionaires moved. What do you think? Of course, that still wouldn't make me OK with the higher taxes imposed on wealthier americans.

 

[Gilding the Lily]

The answer is a little bit of both.

Those of you who are old enough to remember that many wealthy people from Great Britain moved to the USA to escape their onerous tax rates prior to Maggie Thatcher's election. So there is historical evidence that tax codes will influence a great many things including where one lives.

I did a little more research since my last post. The facts suggest that it is likely due more to the millionaires losing their wealth, rather than such millionaires moving from the state due to a higher tax bracket increase. I have no doubt, however, that onerous tax rates may encourage people to move to less onerous states or countries (or simply move their money out of the view of taxing authorities). But, the data, while not complete, at the very least, does not suggest that most of the decrease in revenues is due to millionaires moving.