GENERAL SUMMARY 
341 
Motor vehicle taxation in Missouri is lighter than in 
many other states. The ratesfor thelicense tax are moderate, 
and the two cent tax on gasoline is very low as compared 
with the average for the United States. Many motor vehicles 
escape taxation under the general property tax. A number 
of cities levy a gasoline tax and collect motor vehicle license 
taxes, with the result that motor vehicle taxation varies 
throughout the state. 
SOURCES OF ADDITIONAL REVENUE 
Any estimate of the additional state revenues that will be 
needed during the next few years must depend largely on 
the position taken concerning (1) the financing of capital re- 
quirements by means of a bond issue as compared with 
current revenues; (2) the amount of additional maintenance 
appropriations to institutions of higher learning, including 
teachers’ colleges; (3) additional state aid for public school 
purposes; and (4) additional state support for conservation 
of the public health and care and treatment of the mentally 
defective and feebleminded. 
As has been seen, there is an administrative reason for 
continuing the state tax on property. Another reason is the 
impossibility of accurately estimating the receipts from the 
income tax, if the system of administration is changed and 
intangible property is exempted from the general property 
tax. 
A form of classified property tax providing for low rates 
on intangible property does not seem to offer a solution of 
the problem of reaching this form of property for taxation. 
The experience of Kansas in recent years was so unfavorable, 
that the low rate taxes on intangibles were abandoned. 
The yield of the Missouri income tax may be augmented in 
three ways: (1) by improving the administration; (2) by a 
broadening of the tax base; and (3) by increasing the rates. 
Improving the administration offers certain possibilities for 
increasing the yield, although its effect cannot be accurately 
estimated in advance. A broadening of the tax base, so as 
to include all dividends in the personal income tax base, 
would increase the yield, but,unless it were reasonably certain