Why can't inner classes declare static members?

Question

The Java Tutorial says that since an inner class is associated with an instance of the enclosing class, it (the inner class) cannot define any static members itself.

It\

Answer 1

Basically just an arbitrary decision. there's no reason it couldn't be supported, but there is also not really any good reason to support it. just declare the static field in the outer class.

also, that quote may not be entirely correct: i believe you can declare a static serialVersionUID in an inner class.