As reported by MarylandReporter.com, the number of millionaires filing tax returns went down again in 2009.  However, opinions differ over what it really means.

In calendar year 2009, there were 4,134 returns showing net taxable income of $1 million or more, 798 or 16% fewer than there were in 2008, according to David Roose, director of the Bureau of Revenue Estimates. Roose produced the numbers at the request of MarylandReporter.com.

There was a “a slight uptick” in the percentage of taxpayers who filed a million-dollar return in 2008 but did not file a return in 2009 at all, Roose said. This could indicate that high-income people had left Maryland, as opponents of the millionaire’s tax say.

But Roose was unwilling to interpret the numbers that way.

“The reason we had a lot fewer millionaires in 2008 and 2009 is people made a lot less money,” Roose said.