Willie Sutton separated over 100 banks from $2 million before he was finally incarcerated in 1952. When asked why he robbed banks, he is said to have responded, “Because that’s where the money is.” Apparently, politicians around the world now want to tax the rich, because they believe, or say they do, that’s where the money is. They’re wrong. The simple fact is that there aren’t enough of the “millionaires and billionaires” who are now the target of President Barack Obama’s campaign trail scorn to make the tiniest dent in America’s deficit. Or in the deficits of other countries that are trying to squeeze the rich.

Politicians in Italy are calling for a wealth tax, and their counterparts in France, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Japan, and Great Britain are pushing a variety of ways to get at the wallets of the rich who, it must be conceded, in several countries are more famous for tax evasion—which goes far beyond legal avoidance—than for tax compliance.