GENERAL SUMMARY 
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farm taxes and net rents from farm operations show that 
Missouri ranks low among the states for which such data are 
available. This low ranking is confirmed by the finding that 
Missouri ranks below the average when comparisons are 
made of the estimates of taxes on farm property relative to 
value and income factors ‘compiled by the United States 
Department of Agriculture. The data for owner-operated 
farms point to the same conclusion, namely, that taxes on 
farm property in Missouri are relatively low in comparison 
with other states in the same general region and the United 
States as a whole. 
Nevertheless, there is a farm tax problem in Missouri. 
Some of the elements in this problem are the declining net 
income from agricultural operations; the failure of the assess- 
ment procedure to make due allowance for the decline in 
capital value in assessing farm property; the variation in 
assessments among the several counties as well as within 
the same county or school or other special district; the ap- 
parent over assessment of the larger farms in a period of 
declining land values, under the present system of assessing 
land and buildings jointly; and the alleged discrimination 
against the farmer operating a mortgaged farm as compared 
with the farmer who owns his property outright, under the 
present system of taxing farm mortgages. 
The possible changes in farm taxation that suggest them- 
selves are the separate assessment of farm land and buildings, 
the assessment of farm property on a basis more closely 
approximating uniformity throughout the state, and the 
elimination of farm mortgages from the general property tax 
hase and their taxation under the income tax only. 
PusLic ScaooL FINANCE 
The problem of public school finance must be considered 
in connection with the plan proposed by the recent State 
Survey Commission, which would transfer to the state 
government a substantial part of the burden now borne by 
the school districts and would involve additional state aid 
expenditures for maintenance over a ten-year period esti- 
mated at $100.6 million. This plan would seem to be open 
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