PROBLEMS OF TAX BURDEN 295 
income tax attributable to Missouri was $34 million, it would 
follow that the federal tax on corporation income would be 
comparable to the total taxes collected by the State of Mis- 
souri in 1928, which amounted to only slightly more than 
$34 million. Although an exact computation is not possible, 
the large volume of federal corporation income tax payments 
affords a reason for accepting the conclusion that ““the busi- 
ness interests of Missouri, excluding farms, pay half or more 
of the total taxes.” 
Another factor that tends to support the conclusion arrived 
at is that large business enterprises are taxed for state and 
local purposes at higher rates on assessed valuation than is 
property on the average. The higher rate is the result of the 
urban location of industrial and mercantile concerns and the 
fact that urban general property tax rates are much higher 
on the average than they are in rural sections. In a recent 
year the combined state and local tax rate in St. Louis City 
was $2.69 per $100 of assessed valuation and $3.09 in Kansas 
City. It is rates such as these that must be regarded as 
representative for industry, and not an average rate on 
property for the state. 
Tue BurDEN oN STATE AND NATIONAL BANKS 
National banks are instrumentalities of the Federal Gov- 
ernment, and it follows that they may be taxed for state and 
local purposes only to the extent that is permissible under 
the federal statutes. According to the federal statutes, 
national banks may be taxed in any one of four ways: (1) 
by a tax on the shares, (2) by a tax on net income, (3) by a 
tax according to or measured by net income, and (4) by 
including dividends on bank stock in the taxable income of 
the owner or holder. In addition to the taxation of national 
banks in any one of the four ways indicated, real estate may 
be taxed for state and local purposes. Missouri taxes na- 
tional bank stock under the general property tax, and it fol- 
lows then that this form of tax operates to the exclusion of 
any other form of tax except the general property tax on 
real estate. 
1 The Taxation System of Missouri, 1929, p. 30.