304 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 
elimination of intangible forms of property from the general 
property tax base. An analysis of the problem indicates 
further that the attempt to tax intangibles as property no 
doubt has an adverse effect upon the receipts from the 
personal income tax. If the owner of intangibles reports the 
income from them in filing his state income tax return, there 
is some likelihood that they may be uncovered for general 
property taxation. It is true that the income tax law pro- 
vides that it is unlawful for any person or officer to use the 
information concerning income in any manner whatever in 
connection with or for the purpose of assessing the general 
property tax.! If a taxpayer reports to the assessor an in- 
come of $1,000 from intangibles, the same assessor is pre- 
sumably required to assess them for the general property tax 
in accordance with the statutes governing that tax, provided 
that the intangibles are taxable. On the other hand, the 
provision in the income tax statute forces him in effect to 
have no knowledge concerning the existence of the taxable 
intangibles, although he has definite information concerning 
the income from them which is reported for the income tax. 
The assessor cannot carry out one law without disregarding 
the other. 
The statement has been made that state income taxes, in 
so far as they apply to persons, “have served everywhere as 
the occasion for the exemption of intangibles from taxation as 
property.”? This statement is not applicable to Missouri, for 
intangibles have been subject to taxation at general property 
tax rates ever since the state income tax law went into effect. 
There 1s little doubt, however, that the exemption should 
have been granted at the time the income tax law became 
effective. The assessed value of money, notes, bonds, etc., 
has been decreasing rapidly, and, if the personal property tax 
on intangibles is not soon abandoned, Missouri may be faced 
with a classification under the general property tax to which 
little or no valuation can be assigned. 
The principal reason for continuing the taxation of intangi- 
bles under the general property tax has no doubt been the 
fact that it is difficult to obtain adequate revenues from a tax 
1R. S. 1919, Section 13135, as amended by Session Laws 1925, pp. 370 f. 
2 Lutz, H. L., Public Finance, New York, 1930, p. 425.