GENERAL SUMMARY
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capita in 1928. The amount of the net bonded debt at the
close of the latter year was $64.4 million, as compared with
only $1.5 million at the end of 1921. Only two of the eleven
states selected for purposes of comparison with Missouri had
a larger amount of net bonded debt than this state at the
close of the year 1928.
The net bonded debt of Missouri local governments is
estimated at $153,041,000 for the year 1928. Of this amount
the four largest cities in the state accounted for slightly more
than $90 million. Combined state and local net bonded debt
amounted to $60.68 per capita in 1928, and the ratio of state
and local net bonded debt to wealth was 1.93%. Both of
these figures are considerably lower than comparable figures
for the United States as a whole.
The cost of money obtained from the sale of the $60 mil-
lion of state highway bonds varied from 4.052%, to 4.817%.
The variation between the two extremes is largely attribut-
able to differences in maturity dates. Excluding the first
three series, which were issued for relatively brief periods,
the maximum cost of money for any of the remaining series
was found to be only a little more than 4.3%. The average
coupon rate of interest on bonds issued by local governments
in Missouri during the years 1926 to 1929 was 4.35%. This
figure is only roughly indicative of the cost of money, since
it is not known to what extent local bonds were sold either at
a premium or a discount.
Tae Missourt Tax SysTEM
A number of constitutional provisions with respect to
taxation are significant in that they impose conditions that
must be observed or that can be changed only by amendment.
Of these provisions, the uniformity rule and the section which
provides that “all property subject to taxation shall be taxed
in proportion to its value” are probably the most important.
The constitution definitely limits the state rate on property,
as well as the rates that may be levied by the local govern-
ments. The principal taxes comprising the Missouri tax
system are (1) the general property tax, including the private
car tax; (2) poll taxes; (3) the inheritance tax; (4) the income
