NPR, States Looking To Make Some Taxes Less Inevitable:

Even in states that haven't experienced oil and gas windfalls, the idea of not just cutting taxes but eliminating certain types of them altogether has been picking up steam. Governors, legislators and activists in states such as Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri have been pushing to eliminate state income taxes. …

It's been decades since any state eliminated a broad-based tax. Alaska did away with its state income tax in 1980, with the completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Several of the eight other states with no income tax, like Texas, also have extensive oil revenues or, like Florida and Nevada, are able to collect a hefty amount of sales tax revenues from non-residents thanks to tourism. Five states don't collect sales taxes but typically have high income taxes, such as in Oregon.

(Thirteen states officially have no state property taxes, though such taxes are collected in every state, generally by local governments.)

But the idea of abolishing entire categories of taxes now makes some state legislators, local officials and public sector unions nervous. They warn that states just starting to emerge from the recession can't afford it. If a major source of revenue is taken away, it will be difficult to replace when times are bad. That's a risk many lawmakers seem willing to take. Politically, big tax cuts are a gift.

(Hat Tip: Ann Murphy.)