How much are you willing to pay in state income tax? What percentage of YOUR income is okay with you? I did the math with a CPA and we came to the conclusion that the entire working population of the state would have to pay 30% of our income (on top of our federal taxes) to support the level of services we currently have (well, had, because that was two years ago and some department budgets have been cut by 20% since, while others have only been cut by single-digits). So let's say we're looking at a 25% state income tax ... on all of us ... to continue to support the level of services we have currently ... which people seem to think can't be cut any further.

So, when there are no more oil revenues, how much of your income are you willing to hand over to the government? I can do the math on my own and see that I can't afford to pay 50% of my income to federal state taxes, but that's where this is headed once you take cuts off the table, which is exactly what the income tax does.