The Sacramento Bee website is reporting that the number of top-income taxpayers in California has declined by a third. In an article in its Capitol Alert section, the Bee says that those Californians with $500,000 and up taxable incomes have declined from almost 150,000 in 2007 to slightly under 100,000 in 2009. The article also notes that the 100,000, representing just over a half percent of the 14.6 million returns, accounted for 18.8 percent of total income reported, but paid 32 percent of all income taxes in 2009.

If Governor Jerry Brown wonders where a whole bunch of those making up that sizable segment of his top taxpayers disappeared to, he might want to call their new governor, Rick Perry, who may have lost in the primary, but who's the surefire winner in the contest to snag rich Californians fleeing the tax tyranny and liberal insanity of the no-longer glittering Golden State.