152 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 
Board of Equalization. Since the status of the Board rests 
on constitutional authority, “it is almost impossible for the 
voters to change the Board, either in respect to its duties, or 
its form, except by means of a constitutional amendment.” 
Proposed constitutional amendments are not always ap- 
proved, however justifiable they may be. In November, 
1924, the Missouri electorate voted on an amendment that 
would have abolished the State Board of Equalization and 
assigned its functions to some other body. The amendment 
was defeated by a vote of approximately two to one. 
Another sound objection to an ex-officio Board of Equal- 
ization is that the members only rarely have any professional 
interest in their work. If an elected state official has had 
any previous practical experience in taxation, he may con- 
tinue to have a professional interest in the subject, but 
usually his work on the State Board will be secondary to 
other activities. Each member of the State Board of Equali- 
zation in Missouri is the active administrative head of an 
important state department, and if a member did not have 
any experience in taxation prior to his election it is too much 
to expect that he will acquaint himself so thoroughly with 
the intricacies of taxation that he can be said to have ac- 
quired a true professional interest in the subject. 
The members of an ex-officio board are officials elected to. 
administrative positions by the dominant party. In general, 
they need one kind of training for the positions to which they 
are elected and a different training for their duties on the 
State Board. The qualifications requisite for the office of 
Attorney General are naturally valuable for a member of the 
Board, but this does not apply to the other state officials. 
A man may be an excellent Governor or Auditor without 
having any specialized knowledge of taxation. The same 
criticism applies to the other state executives, the Secretary 
of State and the State Treasurer, who serve on the State 
Board of Equalization in Missouri. Regardless of their lack 
of previous training the Board members in time might be- 
come reasonably familiar with the problems and processes. 
of equalization if they devoted some time to a study of the 
subject. Since they are elected officials, however, they may 
1 Jensen, J. P.: The General Property Tax, p. 354.