diff --git a/command/taint.go b/command/taint.go
index 54aa00146..399f0e330 100644
--- a/command/taint.go
+++ b/command/taint.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/terraform"
 )
 
 // TaintCommand is a cli.Command implementation that manually taints
@@ -43,6 +45,17 @@ func (c *TaintCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		module = "root." + module
 	}
 
+	rsk, err := terraform.ParseResourceStateKey(name)
+	if err != nil {
+		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Failed to parse resource name: %s", err))
+		return 1
+	}
+
+	if !rsk.Mode.Taintable() {
+		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Resource '%s' cannot be tainted", name))
+		return 1
+	}
+
 	// Get the state that we'll be modifying
 	state, err := c.State()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 6ad568a7e..848552aac 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -938,3 +938,14 @@ func (v *Variable) inferTypeFromDefault() VariableType {
 
 	return VariableTypeUnknown
 }
+
+func (m ResourceMode) Taintable() bool {
+	switch m {
+	case ManagedResourceMode:
+		return true
+	case DataResourceMode:
+		return false
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Errorf("unsupported ResourceMode value %s", m))
+	}
+}