“They can tax income. Property or the value of stock options are not income.”
And yet I pay county property taxes every year.
Silly me.
The several states have always been Constitutionally allowed to tax property, even since the Constitution was ratified.
The Federal government can only do so if the tax is “apportioned among the states.” Which is why none of the “property taxes” you pay, or have ever paid, are sent to the US Treasury.