Yes, that's a good workaround too, particularly for those taxpayers who can't easily find how much exempt dividend income was attributable to particular states. It doesn't always get reported to taxpayers in an easily found place. I think in my case, $20 was tax exempt in my state. So I might save a buck. Gee thanks.
The only reason somebody needs to care about this is if they have a large amount of exempt dividend income (say, from municipal bonds or other tax-exempt mutual funds), and most or all of it was attributable to the one or more states for which they have to file a state income tax return. In a state with high state income tax rates where that income can be excluded, it might make enough of a difference to care about. Most people... pfft!
