308 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI

years. The changes in administration that have been suggested
 are of so vital a nature that it may require some time
for maximum advantages to be obtained. It will be necessary,
 therefore, to consider the past record of collections from
this tax as a guide, making only a moderate allowance for
increased revenues due to increased efficiency. No accurate
forecast of revenues from this source for a number of years
can be made until such time as the administrative and other
adjustments have been in effect at least one year. This
phase of the problem will receive further consideration in the
section on the income tax.

Property Taxes
It has been pointed out in a previous discussion that it
does not appear to be desirable to abandon the state general
property tax, for the reason that the state will be in a better
position to put the suggested administrative changes into
effect if it has a direct interest in the revenue derived from
this source. Another reason for continuing the state general
property tax, at least for several years, 1s found in the fact
that it is impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy
the receipts from the income tax that may result from improved
 administration and the abandonment of the general
property taxation of intangibles. Also it would seem to be
better policy to continue the state property tax at the present
rates or slightly higher rates until the time when it may be
possible to obtain definite evidence concerning the effect of
the changes in the rates and administration of the income
tax than to reduce considerably or to abandon the state rate
on property and to increase the income tax rates to a greater
extent than might later prove to be necessary. This factor,
together with the administrative factor, seems to warrant
the continuance of the general property tax rate for state
purposes at the present level.
It seems probable that Missouri may consider a form of
classified property tax that would make possible the taxation
of intangible forms of property at low rates. In recent years
several states have experimented with a low-rate tax on
intangibles in the hope that it would solve the problem of the
escape of this form of property from taxation under the