Take too much from the rich and they’ll go somewhere else

The more you tax something, the less of it you get. It's an iron-clad law of economics.

Raise taxes on investment? Less investment. Raise taxes on job creation? Fewer new jobs.

Raise taxes on the rich? You get fewer rich people - and less tax revenue than expected.

A few weeks ago, this story played out in Europe, when French actor Gerard Depardieu accepted Russian citizenship to reduce his tax bill. Mr. Depardieu estimated he had paid almost $200 million in French taxes over his four-decade career. Then President Francois Hollande and his Socialist government imposed a new 75 percent tax rate on the super-wealthy. Mr. Depardieu decided Russia's 13 percent flat tax was closer to his "fair share."

Enter professional golfer Phil Mickelson, who said Sunday he is thinking about "some drastic changes" in his life and career because of the tax hit he has taken over the past two months. Mr. Mickelson, who has an estimated net worth near $180 million and annual income of about $48 million, has seen the top federal income tax rate increase from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. And he's a resident of California, where voters just approved a retroactive increase in that state's top income tax rate, from 10.3 percent to 13.3 percent. Although professional athletes generally pay taxes to the various states and countries they compete in, California taxes every dime Mr. Mickelson makes, regardless of where it was earned, according to Forbes contributor Robert W. Wood. It's why most professional golfers live in states such as Florida, Texas and Nevada, which have no income tax. Mr. Mickelson estimates his total tax rate now is a Europe-like 62 or 63 percent.

Predictably, Mr. Mickelson and Mr. Depardieu have been widely criticized for complaining about their higher tax bills. They still earn many millions of dollars after their tax bill, and who couldn't live comfortably off such earnings? Mr. Mickelson apologized Monday to everyone insulted by his remarks, saying, "Finances and taxes are a personal matter and I should not have made my opinions on them public. ... Like everyone else I want to make decisions that are best for my future and my family." He has scheduled a news conference for today.

In fact, taxes are a very public matter because they fund our governments and have economic consequences that affect everyone. Mr. Mickelson is nearly alone in speaking up about it - many thousands of others are making private decisions to avoid higher tax bills, in California and elsewhere.

Last week, boxing promoter Bob Arum said a planned fifth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez in September would not be staged in the United States because of the tax hit the fighters would take. Losing the fight would be a blow to the Las Vegas economy.

We are a nation founded on the rights of individuals, not the wants of the collective. And in an economy with weak growth and double-digit real unemployment, people of all income levels must be allowed to keep more of their own money, to save, spend or invest as they see fit, not have ever-larger sums of it seized based on what others believe is "fair."

If Mr. Mickelson wants a lower tax bill, we hear Southern Nevada has many beautiful homes on some excellent golf courses.