Tennessee is wise not to have a general income tax. That has enhanced the business climate here. The state does have the Hall income tax on bond interest and stock dividends, but that is not as harmful as a heavy general income tax.
Eight other states also have no income tax. And encouragingly, Republicans in seven more states are trying to eliminate or at least sharply reduce income taxes.
The states besides Tennessee that currently have no general income tax are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
States looking to roll back or abolish their income taxes are Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
The push to do that makes sense. The more sources of tax revenue a state has, the easier it is to run up tax rates incrementally in many different ways. That makes it possible to raise overall taxes significantly without the taxpayers being able to nail down just why they are having to stretch their paychecks further and further.
Limiting the total number of sources of tax revenue makes it harder for lawmakers to obscure the effect of taxes on the public. That transparency is a worthy goal.