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Maybe Wisconsin isn’t anathema to millionaires after all. The number living here is predicted to almost double by 2020, according to a new study by the Deloitte professional services firm.

The international study, “The Next Decade in Global Wealth,” predicts that the United States, followed by Japan and Germany, will continue to have the most millionaires.

Although some countries dubbed as “emerging markets,” such as China and Brazil, will rise in the rankings, “It is developed markets that are expected to remain the global centers of wealth over the next decade.”

With an estimated 20.5 million millionaires by 2020 holding $87.1 trillion, the U.S. will be the undisputed leader, although the Midwest – defined as Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota – is expected to trail all other regions in the number of millionaire households.

Last year, according to Deloitte, there were about 159,000 in this state. That’s expected to grow to 260,000 by 2015 and 368,000 by 2020.

That would place Wisconsin second in the Midwest, behind Illinois, which is expected to have 803,000 millionaires by 2020, and just ahead of Minnesota, which is expected to have 341,000.

Wisconsin recently raised the state income tax rate from 6.75 to 7.75 for the state’s top income bracket, which includes all taxpayers earning at least $225,000 (or $300,000 for joint filers). Business groups, including the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, said the increase, passed by a Democrat-controlled state Legislature in 2009, would make the state less business friendly.

A recent report by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance showed that the number of state residents reporting income of greater than $1 million fell 15 percent between 2008 and 2009 in Wisconsin. The nonpartisan tax watch group attributed the decline to the recession, particularly its effects on small business owners.

Are millionaires heading for the state line, or is the decline, as suggested by WisTax, only a bump in the road?

A Deloitte analyst told Wisconsin Public Radio, “The numbers aren’t such that they’re growing so significantly that you could say that something really unique is happening in Wisconsin. But for those that say that we’re losing millionaires in Wisconsin because of whatever possible policy, I think this study would at least suggest that’s not the case.”

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