SOURCES OF ADDITIONAL REVENUE 319 
annual revenue of at least $1.7 million.! This estimate was 
based principally upon the per capita yields in Iowa and 
South Carolina. If this tax is considered by Missouri, it 
does not follow that it would have to be continued for a long 
period. The principal justification for the tax is its fiscal 
adequacy, and, if income tax receipts should exceed expec- 
tations, there might be no occasion to continue the cigarette 
tax for more than two years. During that period the princi- 
pal revenue need of the state appears to be a form of tax 
that will supplement the receipts from other sources without 
placing an excessive burden on any one group that might 
later prove to have been unnecessary. If it is given serious 
consideration, the rates as well as the system of administra- 
tion in use in Iowa could be used as a guide. 
Motor Vehicle Taxation 
It has been seen that the burden of state motor vehicle 
taxation in Missouri is comparatively light. If more revenue 
is desired from the motor vehicle traffic, the gasoline tax 
seems to be the most logical source from which it can be 
obtained, since gasoline consumption is a much better 
indicator of highway use than motor vehicle licenses. Ac- 
cordingly, the present discussion will be confined to the 
gasoline tax and the manner in which an increased rate 
might be used to compensate the local governments for the 
loss of revenue occasioned by the exemption of intangible 
property from the general property tax. 
Another reason why a distribution of a part of the gasoline 
tax receipts may be suggested is that there is a definite con- 
nection between good rural roads and the school consolida- 
tion program of the state, which will no doubt be pushed 
forward more rapidly in the near future. Rural roads have 
not been improved uniformly throughout the state, and 
doubtless an investigation would show that unimproved 
roads are generally found in those rural sections in which 
consolidation as a means of solving the school problem is 
most needed. Aside from any other advantages that better 
rural roads might afford, to the extent that they would con- 
tribute to the solution of the school problem, their more 
rapid improvement is especially desirable. 
1 The Taxation System of Missouri, p. 70.