318 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI

In view of the fact that Missouri levies a tax on the income
of corporations and individuals, there does not appear to be
any good reason why a general sales or turnover tax for
state purposes should be considered. A tax of this kind is
not easy to administer. This is particularly true if exemptions
 are not provided that will eliminate a large number of
returns from those whose taxes would be very small. Furthermore,
 the incidence of a sales tax may leave something
to be desired. A sales tax on widely used necessities would
tend to raise the prices of articles that enter into the family
budgets of the workers. The amount added to the price of
commodities in order to shift the tax might even exceed the
amount of the tax.!
Tobacco Taxes

Of the states adjoining Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and
Arkansas tax cigarette sales, and the latter state includes
cigars. Although only recently developed as a source of
state revenue, almost one third of the states have enacted
laws providing for tobacco taxes. The most recent additions
to the list are New Mexico, Michigan, and Mississippi. In
the two former states, however, the referendum was invoked,
 and the use of the tax will depend on the will of the
electorate.
Although a tax on cigarette sales may be opposed, it has
one characteristic that would justify the consideration of
this form of taxation at the present time. It has a degree
of fiscal adequacy that many other taxes do not possess.
Cigarette consumption does not vary to any great extent,
and a stamp tax on sales could therefore be depended on as a
revenue producer, regardless of the state of business. It
has been pointed out that one of the principal needs of
Missouri is for some form of tax that can be depended on for a
considerable amount of revenue until the effect of improved
administration and changed rates on receipts from the income
tax can be ascertained. A tax on cigarette sales would meet
this need.
It has been conservatively estimated that a tax on cigarette
sales in Missouri at the rates used in Iowa would vield an

1 For a discussion of sales or turnover taxation, see National Industrial Confernce
 Board, General Sales or Turnover Taxation, New York, 1929.