320 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 
Other advantages might be claimed for increasing the rate 
of tax on gasoline and returning a portion of the receipts to 
the local governments. If the tax were increased to four 
cents, it should be possible to abandon the city rates that 
are now levied. The enforcement of the law at the higher 
rate would not mean a proportionate increase in the ad- 
ministrative costs borne by the state and would relieve the 
city governments of the cost of administering the local 
license tax. Local governments would derive a direct benefit 
from the tax, regardless of their proximity to the primary, 
secondary, or supplementary system of state highways. 
It might be claimed that funds returned to the local gov- 
ernments would not be used so efficiently as if expended by 
the state on the state highway system and the farm-to- 
market supplementary highways. There might be good 
reasons to support such a contention, but the basis of com- 
parison is probably not suitable. The comparison should be 
between receipts from local property taxes used for road pur- 
poses and the gasoline tax receipts that the local govern- 
ments would receive. There is little reason to believe that 
there would be a decrease in efficiency merely because the 
source of the funds had been changed. 
In view of the facts that some substitute for the loss of 
local revenue resulting from the abandonment of the general 
property tax on intangibles is necessary if property tax rates 
are not to be increased, that a uniform tax on gasoline 
throughout the state is desirable, and that there is a definite 
connection between the condition of rural roads and the 
possibilities of school consolidation, a gasoline tax rate of 
four cents, two cents of which would be for the benefit of the 
local governments, has much to commend it. A rate of four 
cents would not be much above the rate on the average gal- 
lon of gasoline used in the United States, and in providing 
for a local distribution, Missouri would merely be following 
the procedure used in a large number of states. 
In order that the suggestion of a four-cent rate might be 
considered in relation to developments in other states, 
Table 89" was prepared. This table shows the year in which 
the gasoline tax first became effective in each state and the 
This table is presented in Appendix A, pp. 346 ff.