Can You See Past Your Smoke?

A cautionary tale for the recently adjourned (THANK GOD) Minnesota Legislature:

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.

All of this means that the burden of paying for bloated government in Annapolis will fall on the middle class. Thanks to the futility of soaking the rich, these working families will now pay (Governor) O'Malley's "fair share."

Politicians like to brag about how Minnesota is near the top in so many arbitrary national rankings. One that they never give themselves enough credit for is being too smart by half.