Wealth & Money Quote by William L. Jenkins

That sentence wears the bland mask of civics-class fact, but it’s doing real political work. Jenkins isn’t simply describing a revenue model; he’s normalizing a particular ideology of taxation: the idea that a state can function, even thrive, without taxing income. In American politics, “no state income tax” is rarely a neutral detail. It’s a brand marker - a shorthand for low-tax governance, business-friendly signaling, and a promise (sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit) that the state won’t penalize earnings or investment.

The subtext sits in the word “rely.” Sales taxes aren’t just a different pipe into the treasury; they shift the burden downward. Everyone buys groceries, school supplies, and gas. Not everyone earns enough to pay substantial income tax. So a state built on sales tax quietly asks more, proportionally, from people who have less. That’s why the line also functions as a defensive pre-buttal: if critics raise equity concerns, the “many states” framing implies legitimacy through prevalence. It’s not an outlier system; it’s common practice.

Context matters here because sales-tax-heavy states often pair that structure with aggressive economic development rhetoric: migration magnets, retirement havens, “jobs” states. Jenkins’ phrasing keeps the moral debate offstage - fairness, regressivity, public-service tradeoffs - and centers a technocratic surface. The real intent is to make a political choice sound like administrative common sense.