THE FARM TAX PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 229 
mortgagee will naturally endeavor to shift the tax levied on 
‘he mortgage to the mortgagor if at all possible. 
As a matter of protection, mortgagees ordinarily have 
farm mortgages recorded, and they are therefore reached for 
taxation more easily than many other forms of intangibles. 
The assessors through the exercise of some little initiative 
can obtain information concerning the notes described in 
these instruments and unreleased on June 1, the assessment 
date. In some counties the county court has furnished the 
assessor with lists of deeds of trust unreleased as of June 1, 
and the State Tax Commission has repeatedly urged that the 
assessors make every effort to reach this form of property. 
In view of the relative ease with which the information can be 
obtained, there is little wonder that a larger proportion of 
farm mortgages than of intangibles in general 1s reached for 
taxation under the general property tax. Even if a farm 
mortgage is not assessed, there is always the likelihood that 
it may be assessed at any time. The result is that this factor 
is taken into account when negotiations are made between 
the mortgagor and the mortgagee, and the interest rate may 
be predicated upon the assessment of the mortgage, even 
though it is not later assessed. In such a case the mortga- 
gee naturally obtains a differential advantage in the return 
from his investment. 
PossiBLe CranNGEs IN Farm Taxarion 
It is generally believed that the most effective results can 
be obtained by the separate assessment of farm land and 
buildings. About two thirds of all the states provide for the 
separate listing of land and buildings on the assessment rolls. 
Land values frequently change much more rapidly than the 
values of the buildings, and it is only by means of separate 
assessments that the problem can be adequately met. It 
would therefore seem advisable to abolish the practice of 
joint assessment. If this change were made, the problem of 
obtaining uniform assessments in any county or other local 
government should prove much less troublesome. 
Every effort should be made to place assessments of farm 
property on a uniform basis throughout the state. This, of