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PREFACE 
7 NHE perpetual problem of state and local government is 
1 the demand for increased revenue to meet growing ex- 
penditures. While in recent years the expenditures of 
the Federal Government have remained comparatively sta- 
tionary, those of the state and local governments have in- 
creased rapidly. 
The fiscal problem that confronts these governments is 
twofold. First, how far is the increase of expenditures a 
legitimate outcome of greater governmental needs, and how 
far is it the result of negligence or of extravagance on the 
part of the guardians of the people’s money? Second, since 
a certain amount of increased expenditure is generally re- 
garded as legitimate, in view of growing population” and 
social advance, how shall the needed revenues be obtained— 
by the increase of existing revenues, or the adoption of new 
taxes, or the resort to loans? 
The answer to these questions in any particular common- 
wealth can be determined only on the basis of a comprehen- 
sive survey of conditions in the present and in the immediate 
past, as respects public expenditure, public revenues, and 
public debt, and of a careful consideration of the needs of 
government. From time to time, and at the instance of 
groups or individuals, the National Industrial Conference 
Board has undertaken surveys of fiscal conditions in a 
number of states, namely: Wisconsin, West Virginia, Dela- 
ware, Illinois, and New York. To these studies it now adds 
the present volume relating to the State of Missouri, pre- 
pared at the request of the Associated Industries of Missouri. 
Over a long period of years, the National Industrial Con- 
ference Board has issued studies dealing with the character- 
istics of individual taxes, the various taxes to which particular 
groups of taxpayers are subject, and the taxes levied in a 
particular area. The last type of study is exemplified by the 
present volume. Through these different lines of approach 
the Conference Board is building up a body of tax literature