308 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 
years. The changes in administration that have been sug- 
gested are of so vital a nature that it may require some time 
for maximum advantages to be obtained. It will be neces- 
sary, 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 im- 
proved 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