Let's face facts: Going forward, taxes will be oppressive.

Put politics aside and focus on economics. When the bill comes due for all the money that was paid out to alleviate the calamities that have befallen our country and our economy-the Wall Street bailouts, FDIC-payments for bank failures, protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stimulus, cash-for-clunkers and health care-a large portion of your client base had better watch out.

The cost of all these programs will create deficits that will exceed the ability of the highest income-earners to cover them. That much we all know.

Tax revolts have begun in the form of "tea parties," which have been derided as partisan. To what extent they are partisan, who really knows? But they are notable if only for their strength and numbers.

Can you remember another period when so many taxpayers rose from their sofas to march on Washington to protest federal spending? It hasn't been missed by these tea-party activists that the tax burden is borne by fewer and fewer wage earners. A full 33% of Americans pay no income tax after taking their full credits and deductions, according to a September 2008 report from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C. (That analysis was later included in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece in October.)

So those citizens share little to none of the current tax burden.

This is a grave concern to investors and financial advisors who want to restrain government spending.

And all of this brings me to my next trend that is reshaping the financial services industry: Your clients are going to be paying much higher taxes.

In past months I've explored three other trends: 1) a populist backlash against the wealthy; 2) your clients' reaction to a loss of trust in financial firms; and 3) do investors really plan to dump their financial advisors and go it alone?

So now, as far as taxes are concerned, make no mistake: Your clients' retirement savings are in peril. In our lifetime, the tax burden will likely change wealth and consumption habits for ourselves and our clients.

Moreover, several states are in dire financial straits and as they turn to revenue increases, your clients will be asked to pay more at the state level.

As taxes become more worrisome, you can provide problem-solving prescriptions as the trusted advisor to your clients.

For those higher income-earners approaching retirement, they may be so eager to reduce the sting that they consider moving to a more tax-friendly state.

Wealthy retirees do indeed migrate. A Heartland Institute study shows that the wealthy leave states with higher tax burdens, like New York or New Jersey, and move to lower tax states.

And they sometimes change their state of residence without actually, physically moving out.

Case in point: The state of Maryland enacted a millionaire's tax beginning in 2008 (on incomes of $1 million or more). At the end of that year, roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed in that state by the end of April. This year there were just 2,000, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. So the end result was that one-third of Maryland's millionaires disappeared from the state's tax rolls.

How did that happen? A public policy expert noted in the same article that many Marylanders have second homes in Delaware, South Carolina, Florida and Virginia, so it is easy enough to change their residence. And why not?

Some may wonder whether an advisor in a higher-tax state, where real estate taxes, in addition to state income tax presents a burden to retirees, should present comparative state tax information to pre-retirees.

The point is this: Financial advisors should be a resource to their clients in mitigating the burden of taxes and anticipating looming liabilities, through a combination of education, planning and ongoing conversation.

Whether you are humanitarian, libertarian or even librarian-bone up on the issues. You can start by getting out in front of the tax issue and suggest various ways that you can provide investment and planning solutions to mitigate the burden of higher taxes, particularly in a period of lower expected returns.

Most advisors have heard this quote before, but we believe that it is especially appropriate in today's tax environment.

And, here it is: "Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: Taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant"-Justice Learned Hand.