Billionaires are suddenly fleeing Washington state as Gov. Jay Inslee (D) is pushing for a new “wealth tax.” You’d think that Inslee would have learned from the bad examples of New York and other states that have driven out their richest residents through the same strategy. Is this some sinister plot to get all the richest people in America to move to Texas and Florida?

Senate Bill 5486, which is under consideration, would exempt the first $250 million of a person’s fortune from the wealth tax. Senate Democrats praise the bill for this reason—meaning they would only stick it to the richest job producers in their state.

What never seems to occur to Democrats is that human beings, including the wealthy, make decisions based on economics. If you announce that you’re going to take someone’s money away from them after a certain date, they’ll move. This is especially true of billionaires who can afford to live wherever they want.

Nick Hanauer is a Democrat donor in Washington who has a net worth of $1 billion. He says that every billionaire friend of his has already made plans to bail and move somewhere else.

“Thoughtful taxes don’t actually drive people away,” notes Hanauer. “Boneheaded taxes do.”

The result is the same every time. If Inslee’s wealth tax is implemented in Washington, the state will end up losing far more tax revenue in the long run because the wealthiest producers will go somewhere else. “Eating the rich” is always a dumb idea.

Imposing fiscal restraint and cutting the government’s budget never seems to occur to these people. Low-IQ people are jealous of the rich, so it’s an appealing idea to try to fleece them for money. What they forget is that you can’t eat someone if they refuse to stand still and let you do it.