In 2008, when Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley pushed his “millionaires’ tax” through a compliant General Assembly, he clearly did not anticipate that his state’s millionaire tax returns would plummet by 30 percent, resulting in a net revenue loss of $257 million. He could not have known that 2,369 affluent taxpayers would choose to leave the state instead of getting fleeced again. The millionaire’s tax was soon repealed, but O’Malley does not appear to have learned from his embarrassing mistake.

Maryland is already the nation’s fourth-highest taxed state, but that didn’t stop O’Malley and the Democrat-controlled legislature from passing a “thousandaires’ tax” during the special session, which raises personal income taxes for individuals earning more than $100,000 and couples earning more than $150,000 per year. Those hardest hit will be business owners and those living in the high-cost Washington suburbs.