194 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI

the local assessors are unable to appraise satisfactorily. Such
a staff might not only give assistance when requested, but
also see that manufacturing and other large properties were
assessed on a basis comparable with the assessment of other
properties in the same local jurisdiction and throughout the
state.
The establishment of an effective system of administration
by a strong tax commission would entail some increase of
administrative costs. The benefits that would be derived
from improved administration, however, should more than
offset any reasonable increase. The functions of the State
Tax Commission might be further extended by the transfer
to it from the office of the State Auditor of the administration
of the income tax and by the establishment of a centralized
system of assessment and collection in place of the present
local system of assessing and collecting this form of tax.
This phase of tax administration will receive attention later.
The state could be divided into districts for the purpose of
establishing a system of central supervision of the general
property tax and carrying out the other changes that may be
introduced. St. Louis City and St. Louis County would
naturally constitute one district, and Kansas City and the
remainder of Jackson County, another district. A representative
 of the Tax Commission assigned to each district might
assist in establishing a uniform system of valuation throughout
 the district. The district representative could avail
himself of all information concerning property transfers, and
the information thus obtained, as well as information from
other sources, could be used in formulating recommendations
 to the local assessors. The first approach to the problem
 would be to ascertain the counties within a district in
which property is relatively overvalued or undervalued.
Conferences of district representatives would aid in deciding
upon the prospective standards that should be adopted for
assessing property and in maintaining them.
When a reasonable assurance had been reached that property
 in the several counties was on the average assessed at
approximately uniform percentages of true value, the next
step would be to attack the problem of variations within the
same county or other local governmental unit. In certain