California dreamin’

California Gov. Jerry Brown wants to raise taxes on well-off residents. But will there be anybody left to loot?

Under Gov. Brown’s plan, individuals making more than $250,000 a year would see their state income tax rate increase by almost 11 percent to 10.3 percent. Those who make $500,000 would suffer a 21 percent increase to 12.3 percent.

Meanwhile, millionaires who currently must pay a surcharge to fund state mental health services would see that levy increase by more than 19 percent.

Nor are “the rich” the only targets. Gov. Brown, a Democrat, would also “temporarily” increase the state sales tax over the next five years from 7.25 percent to 7.75 percent.

All this is supposed to serve as a tourniquet to stop California’s budget hemorrhaging. It will, of course, do nothing of the sort and simply enable the big spenders in Sacramento.

Meantime, what does the state hope to generate from this shakedown? Gov. Brown estimates his plan will raise $6.9 billion a year, but the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that a nonpartisan review by legislative analysts set the number closer to $5 billion.

And don’t forget: Many high earners have a curious habit of changing their behavior to avoid punitive tax rates. “Why did Tiger Woods grow up here [yet he doesn’t] live here now?” Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from Bakersfield, told Bloomberg News.

In fact, California tax returns with adjusted gross incomes of more than $500,000 dropped by one-third between 2007 and 2009, the last year for which data are available, Bloomberg reports. IRS data also show that the number of millionaires in California has dropped in the past decade while climbing nationally.

Do you think the state’s tax policies have played a role in these developments?

Aaron Renn, an analyst who runs the website urbanophile.com, noted in an interview with Bloomberg News that three of the top five states to which Californians have moved in the past decade — including Nevada — don’t have an income tax. “California is bleeding people like crazy to almost every state,” Mr. Renn said. “Every time they leave, they take income with them.”

Can you say, “Welcome to the Silver State”?