196 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 
It would promote uniformity of assessments if the town- 
ship assessor system were to be abolished in those counties 
which have township form of organization. Moreover, 
district supervision would be more difficult in counties having 
township assessors if such officers were retained. 
It seems clearly desirable that land and buildings should 
be separately assessed. Approximately two thirds of the 
states now provide for separate assessment, and there 
appears to be no advantage in continuing joint assessment 
in Missouri. 
In order to prevent the escape of motor vehicles from taxa- 
tion, applicants for state motor vehicle licenses could be 
required to present a receipt showing payment in the pre- 
vious year of general property taxes on the motor vehicles 
which 1t is desired to register, and the license might be refused 
unless it could be conclusively shown that the motor vehicle 
was assessed. Purchases made between June 1 and the 
time when taxes are payable in the following year would 
constitute an exception, and obviously registration should 
not be refused in such cases. However, in order that an 
avenue of escape might not be open, the person who desired to 
register such a motor vehicle could be required to present 
a bill of sale in lieu of the statement showing that property 
taxes were paid. It might be contended that there would 
be collusion between motor vehicle dealers and buyers in 
post-dating bills of sale. However, such collusion for a post- 
dating could accomplish nothing but to deprive the owner of 
the right to use the motor vehicle during the time between 
actual purchase and the date as shown on the bill of sale. 
As a first approach to the problem of assessing all live- 
stock, the State Tax Commission could inform the county 
assessors of the number of livestock in the county as reported 
to the United States Department of Agriculture and shown 
in the five-year Census of Agriculture. Such data would 
indicate to the local assessor the maximum amount of the 
several kinds of livestock that might be expected. 
For administrative reasons, if for no other, the continuance 
of the general property tax for state purposes seems to be 
desirable. If the state received no revenue from this source, 
it would be a much more difficult task to exercise effective