CHAPTER XIII 
GENERAL SUMMARY 
HE principal findings of this report relate to the 
| expenditures of the state and local governments; the 
indebtedness, state and local; the tax system and its 
administration, particularly the administration of the general 
property tax; state and local tax revenues; the farm tax 
problem; public school finance; financing the capital require- 
ments of the state; problems of tax burden; possible sources 
of additional revenue; and other aspects of the Missouri 
fiscal problem. 
State AND Local EXPENDITURES 
The expenditures of the Missouri state government have 
been much larger in recent years than in 1913 and in 1918. 
For 1928 net state expenditures amounted to $38.6 million, 
and gross expenditures were $44.5 million. 
The state highway construction program has been the 
principal factor causing increased expenditures. For the 
period 1923 through 1928, capital expenditures for highways 
amounted to $113.3 million, and those for highway mainten- 
ance were $12.1 million. The variation in highway expendi- 
tures has been the principal cause of the changes from year 
to year in the net and gross totals for state expenditures. 
Unlike highway expenditures, the disbursements of the state 
for education have been predominantly for maintenance. 
The latter function ranks second on the basis of the percent- 
age of total state expenditures. During the period 1923 
through 1928 highways and education accounted for almost 
709%, of the next expenditures of the state government. Other 
functions, expenditures on account of which are classified 
under net expenditures, ranked as follows: Protection, social 
welfare, general government, economic development, and 
miscellaneous. 
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