THE MISSOURI TAX SYSTEM 97

the entrance fee or tax, a foreign corporation is required to
pay a fee of $10.00 for a license authorizing it to do business
in the state.! An additional fee of $5.00 is required on withdrawal
 from the state.
On the basis of revenue yielded, the corporation franchise
tax is one of the most important of the group of special
business taxes. The rates and the tax base are the same for
domestic and foreign corporations. The base of the tax is the
par value of the outstanding capital stock and surplus; nopar
 stock is considered as having a value of $5.00 per share
unless the actual value exceeds that amount, in which case
the tax is levied on the actual value and the surplus.? The
Supreme Court of Missouri has interpreted surplus to mean
“the excess of assets employed in the business over the par
value of the outstanding capital stock without regard to
liabilities.” The tax under this judicial interpretation becomes
 a tax on total assets, when the total assets of a corporation
 are in Missouri.
Many corporations subject to the tax have only a part of
their assets in the state. In that case the tax base is whichever
 is the higher of (1) the clear market value of the assets
in Missouri or (2) the par value of the capital stock plus the
actual value of no-par stock! multiplied by a fraction, the
numerator of which is the clear market value of the assets in
Missouri and the denominator of which is the clear market
value of the total assets. The latter is particularly applicable
in cases where a large number of no-par shares of small actual
value are outstanding.
As a result of the unusual interpretation given to surplus
by the court, it can be said that the tax is not in conflict with
the constitutional provisions that require uniformity in
raxation. Also, there is no discrimination between corporadons
 with a large proportion of owned capital and those
which rely largely on borrowed capital.
The rate of the tax is $0.50 per $1,000, or one twentieth of
one per cent. A corporation is not subject to the tax for the
year in which it incorporates or qualifies.
1 Session Laws, 1927, p. 391. 2 Session Laws, 1929, p. 329.
8 State ex rel. Marquette Hotel Inv. Co. v. State Tax Commission, 282 Mo. 213,
221 8. W. 721.
t Not less than $5.00 per share.