CTUP co-founders Arthur Laffer and Steve Moore are back in the Wall Street Journal today demonstrating the folly of the progressive left’s strategy to tax Americans on their wealth.   Seven blue states – California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York – are considering Bernie Sanders-style soak-the-rich wealth taxes this year. These proposals include higher taxes on capital gains, annual taxes on lifetime savings, and income tax surcharges on millionaires and billionaires.

These seven also happen to be the highest tax states with California and New York charging a top tax rate of some 13% – compared to zero in nine states including Florida and Texas.

The table below shows the results of these high taxes. Rich people leave – and they don’t come back. They take their riches, their businesses, and their employees with them. More than five million Americans on net have left the high-tax states in favor of lower-tax jurisdictions.

High Tax States Being Bled To Death

Source: Census Bureau for population and IRS for lost income from movers.

The bottom line: if these blue states keep socking it to the rich, they will soon find they don’t have rich people left to pay the bills.